Hi, my name is Rachael Van Pelt! I’m a Healthspan Scientist turned Realtor and Coach and I help longevity-minded adults who are standing at the crossroads of retirement or an encore career and trying to navigate the exciting yet often daunting world of lifestyle creation. I help adults MASTER health and wealth longevity so their Next Act is the BEST act!
Whether your dream is to downsize and thrive or to create an active sunbird lifestyle, I can help you improve lifestyle longevity. Because you’ve got a lot of life left to live!
My journey began when at the height of my research career I asked myself, “What next?”
I’d been studying healthy aging for more than 20 years. I was managing multiple 7-figure research grants and had just helped land an even bigger multi-institutional grant that would keep me busy for the next decade.
I was comfortably on track to become a fully tenured professor, but I was starting to ask the ever ‘dangerous’ question… “Is this all there is?”
I looked around at the scientists who were a decade or more ahead of me and I cringed. Not because I didn’t respect what they were doing, but because my future seemed cast in stone. It suddenly felt dull and uninspired. It felt constrained and unhealthy. In a nutshell, it wasn’t the lifestyle I wanted anymore. I was ready for my Next Act.
Have you ever felt that way? I’ll bet you have. I’ve talked to 100s of women and men over the years and found that most of us hit a crossroads mid-life and start asking these sorts of soul-searching questions.
Sometimes we are simply bored. More often a major life event (such as job loss, divorce, death) kicks us in the teeth and triggers these questions.
Regardless, it can be INCREDIBLY scary.
I know that after many years of training to get my PhD, complete a Postdoc, hustle to write grants and publish papers… I had a lot of SUNK COSTS. And my IDENTITY was completely tied up in being a scientist. Who would I be after I threw that all away?
Well, fast forward more than 7 years and I’m here to tell you that I am FAR BETTER today for it! I can’t tell you how incredibly grateful I am that I let go of my old identity and didn’t get mired down in the so-called sunk cost fallacy.
I created better health, wealth, and freedom than I ever would have had I stayed put. Taking the time to masterfully create a Next Act that I love, that lasts, and that I don’t have to retire from was the best move I ever made.
So, when you are ready to create your BEST Next Act… I highly encourage you to do so. You won’t regret it!
I believe that our best years are ahead of us, not behind us… but only if we double down on health and wealth mid-life and start playing the long game.
@drrachaelvanpelt
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My Professional Biography. I have studied Successful Aging for the past 25 years. After completing my PhD and postdoctoral training in the Integrated Physiology of Aging, I lead clinical trials at the University of Colorado School of Medicine for 17 years. Throughout that time, my laboratory was continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct research on aging, women’s health, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hormones, and memory decline. I worked as a principal investigator or co-investigator on more than 13 major grants, published more than 55 papers in high-ranking peer-reviewed journals, and presented at least 50 invited lectures. In 2017 I left academia to pursue my passion for promoting the art and science of mastering healthspan to those who are ready to play the ultimate long game. Today I help people level-up their health and wealth mid-life to extend lifestyle longevity.