Making the Time: Finding Purpose and Well Being Through Compassionate Self-Care

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In this episode of Surfing Your Edge, Kristine Goad sits down with retired educator, coach, and creator Pam to explore what it means to keep growing, experimenting, and creating at every stage of life. Pam shares how her experiences with teaching, coaching, self-compassion, podcasting, and entrepreneurship have unfolded one small step at a time — often without a clear roadmap.

Together, they talk about the courage to try new things, the challenge of putting your work into the world when no one seems to be responding, and why self-care is an active expression of self-compassion. Pam also reflects on curiosity, aging, finding purpose beyond retirement, and the importance of making the most of the moment you’re in.

Highlights:

Pam encourages people to explore what they love, what they wonder about, and what they are good at, while remembering to appreciate the moment they are in.

Growth doesn’t stop with age or retirementBig changes often happen one small step at a timeSelf-care is an expression of self-compassionCuriosity and presence can help guide your next chapterCreating and sharing your work requires persistence

About Pam Van Nest:

Pam Van Nest, a Self-Care Coach with PVN Coaching, helps women over 40 face the inner voices of perfectionism, self-doubt and second guessing to reconnect with what matters and make meaningful choices about their next chapter. With 38 years of experience as a teacher and instructional coach across Maine, Honduras, and Ontario, she is a certified CTI and ICF coach. She created the oracle card deck Making The Time and hosts the Making the Time podcast. Creative moments find her sewing, kayaking, sketching, painting, and biking.

She respectfully acknowledges that she lives on the territory of the Michi Saagiig, and the ancestral lands of the Anishinaabeg and the traditional territory covered by the Williams' Treaties. She is aware of the privileges of being a cis gender, able bodied, white woman and continues to work to decolonize her practice, staying open to new learning, and sharing her gifts.

Connect with Pamela Van Nest:

Website: https://www.pvncoaching.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamelavannestempowermentcoach/