Riv Lynch of Highland Park keeps an elaborate list of top 100 things to do in her lifetime.
It’s divided into categories, such as “Professional,” “Physical” and “Travel.”
At 40 in 2008, she thought “take a ballet class” was one goal that would be deferred indefinitely …
As it turns out, Lynch did learn how to dance, thanks to a group class with other Highland Park moms. But the story gets better: After all the other moms dropped out of a recital performance, Lynch ended up learning a new routine and dancing a solo in front of more than 200 adults and children from her community. While she “never had the nerve” to dance growing up or in high school, she found herself conquering her fear as an adult and earning genuine applause.
“I always wondered if I could be good enough … Now I know I am. It was an affirmation that my word means something. Being completely vulnerable—I felt naked up there—[anything] is now a cinch in comparison,” she says.
The mother of 3 also has her own home organizing business, Sacred Spaces, and she worked two jobs as a stay-at-home mom in order to allow her husband, James Lynch, to pursue his dream of leaving the corporate world to start his own life coaching business, J.M. Lynch Training. She’s now one of his paying clients, and provides organizing support for the business as well.
Along with her sister, Lynch is also the founder of the women’s business networking group Mom For Profit, which meets monthly (providing childcare at each meeting) and is currently in the process of finalizing a charity partnership that will help women succeed in business. The group has grown from 5 moms to more than 50 in less than a year.
And, she’s still checking things off her life list. By the end of this month, Lynch will conquer another fear: She’ll take a one-day intensive course in flying, and will fly a small place herself, with an instructor—and her husband riding in the backseat.
For more information about Mom for Profit or Sacred Spaces, contact Riv Lynch at Riv@SacredSpacesHome.com.
