Meet Gail Gould

We were lucky to catch up with Gail Gould recently and have shared our conversation below.

Gail, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

It took me a while to find my purpose. I graduated college with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama and a large portion of my college career was spent in dance class. After graduating, I spent 6 weeks in California to see if I wanted to move there. It was a little too frightening for me to make such a big move, so I went back home to Texas. Some of the jobs I dabbled in after graduation were getting a real estate license, working in real estate and retail. None of these jobs were gratifying to me. I began teaching group exercise in my early 20’s and I loved it! I worked as a group exercise and personal trainer for about 10 years before deciding to go back to graduate school to earn a graduate degree in Exercise Science. My plans after graduation were to work in corporate health promotion. I’ve always been drawn to helping others. I started smoking cigarettes at age 12 and was around 30-35 pounds overweight as a young teenager. I quit smoking when I was 20 years old and lost 30 pounds in my late teens so I knew I could help others improve their health status as I did. When I began teaching CPR, it was immensely gratifying to have students in my class reach out to let me know they had saved a life using techniques they had learned in my training. This is how I found my purpose.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I have been a professional CPR instructor for 35 years. Some of my clients are Fortune 500 companies, law firms, schools, medical offices, and government organizations. It’s exciting for me to empower students in my classes with the skills they need to save a life. In addition to teaching people how to save a life, I also discuss prevention. It is best to never need to use CPR, so I talk a lot about things one can do to avoid needing CPR such as avoiding all kinds of tobacco, managing blood pressure, reducing blood lipid levels, getting physically active, and maintaining social connections. For kids, it’s all about prevention as well such as not feeding kids foods that are choking hazards, making certain that all guns in the home are unloaded and locked up, having a car seat safety specialist install/check your child’s car seat, and having 2 fences around your backyard pool: one around the yard and another fence surrounding the pool. I created a digital course called “How to Help Your Choking Child” after meeting a loving mom who lost her infant to choking. This course empowers parents, grandparents, caregivers, and teachers with the skills and knowledge to know specifically what to do if a child begins to choke. No parent should ever have to lose a child to choking. You can view the digital course by clicking on this link: https://www.cprandsafetylady.com/programs

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1. Find your purpose even if it takes a while to find it. Having a purpose in life makes it a lot easier to get up and get going in the morning.
2. Be tenacious. If there is something you really want to do, research it and don’t give up.
3. Never stop learning and trying new things. I love learning new things and trying new approaches. I have been meditating for 6 years and just recently, I began a new breathing routine that I do each morning before my meditation. After 17 minutes of this routine, I take a cold shower for 2 minutes. This provides me with lots of energy to start my day!

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

It is really easy to feel overwhelmed when you are self-employed. If I am feeling overwhelmed, I will try to do a few of these things to help.
1. Take a walk usually with my dog, Whiskey.
2. Go workout with weights.
3. Journal for 20 minutes whether it is writing in a spiral or typing in a word document on my laptop.
4. Call a friend.

These things can usually help me to feel a little less overwhelmed.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Final photo is by Kristine Canterbury.

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