A Social Media Inspiration: A Conversation with Linda Malys Yore

Linda Malys Yore is an influencer with a blog called “Linda On The Run”, where she writes and inspires others about travel, fitness, vegan cooking, and health. After starting her blog in 2018, she began using Instagram and Facebook as additional platforms to share her stories. Today, Linda has 73,000 followers on Instagram. Experience Beyond Measure correspondent Mike Lawson recently interviewed Linda about her transition from retirement to an influencer.

Linda’s Background

Linda was a nurse for twenty years but left the job she loved in healthcare to raise and homeschool her two daughters. Linda’s love of travel came from her parents, and she passed that gift to her children. When her kids were growing up, they spent four months out of the year for seven years traveling across the United States and Canada in a 40-foot-long RV. She has traveled to all fifty states within the United States, seven Canadian provinces, and more than thirty countries. She continues to travel with her two daughters whenever she gets the chance. 

The Start of Linda On The Run

After Linda’s divorce in 2014, her daughter, Victoria, said, “Mom, you really need to share this with people. Social media is not just about the young children. There are all kinds of people of all kinds of ages, and I think they would really, really enjoy seeing some of your adventures.” Linda was not interested in this idea, but Victoria saw something in her mother that she did not see in herself. So then, Victoria set up the “Linda On The Run” website and social media accounts, which she gifted to Linda for Christmas in 2017 and became her mentor. On her website, Linda says, “It has been a difficult road, but I hope to share my story with others and inspire them that you can still live your best life after divorce!”

Linda’s Writing Background

Before Linda started her blog and became an influencer, she wrote about her family vacations. She sent these long, detailed posts about their trips to an extensive list of followers via email and began inspiring others to travel. On her website, Linda says, “I like to call myself an “original blogger” because I was writing about my travels before the internet was even popular!”

Linda’s Blog

Although Linda posts about fitness, vegan cooking, and health, she specializes in local and luxury travel. Within her website, people can find information related to North American and European travel. Many of these blogs provide what-to-know tips before visiting a new destination, suggestions for lodging, restaurants, sightseeing, and mistakes not to make. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Linda is not currently traveling internationally. Instead, she posts content about staycations and writes about places to go and see in each U.S. state so that people can safely travel close to home.

Linda’s Advice to Others

Linda wants to inspire and reassure her followers that it is never too late to fulfill their dreams. To other retirees looking to step out of their comfort zone and have a growing experience, Linda recommends taking baby steps towards a specific goal. For those looking to start exercising, she advises speaking to a doctor about what they want to achieve to avoid pain and injuries. “Go within your limits of what your body tells you and do some research.” Finally, Linda tells new travelers to start locally, be responsible, practice COVID-19 guidelines in place, and stay positive.

She also wants to encourage others to stay active to maintain or improve their health, regardless of age. Linda often speaks about kindness and gratitude and says, “Every morning when I wake up with my health, that’s a great day because if you don’t have your health, you have nothing really. And how precious that is and how we want to take care of our health and build our immunity and be as healthy as possible to fight off whatever virus or bacteria is coming our way.” 

Linda suggests that older adults looking to add personal fitness to their lifestyle can look online for a fitness plan, join a local running group, find a workout partner to hold each other accountable, or even start by walking fifteen minutes each day. “I’m not encouraging anybody to go and run a marathon or do a Triathlon. You would just do what it is that you like, it could be walking, it could be going for a bicycle ride. It could be doing water aerobics in the pool when the weather’s warm, just doing something.”

Connections Made Through Social Media

Even though Linda initially did not want to share her stories on social media, she admits that her daughter was right. “There are a lot of people… a lot of friendly people, a lot of inquisitive people that really just want to know what is out there.” Linda mentions that the pleasant engagement with her followers has been a pivot from the past several years of her life spent traveling. She has become more socially intimate with her followers by revealing more about herself, such as her fitness routine, her vegan meal ideas, and more. “I have made friends all over the world, and when travel ever does resume, I’ll say, ‘I’m going to go to such and such a place. Want to have lunch or give me some suggestions of what to do or where to go?’ There are just plenty of people that the world is really a smaller place due to social media.” 

Linda states that her online success is incredibly fulfilling and a grave responsibility that she does not take lightly. Her followers look to her for advice, direction, and consider her an example. “Life is not a dress rehearsal. We have to take what we have been given and do with it what we can, with the circumstances that we can, and we can never give up on our dreams... never ever give up on our dreams.”

Linda’s Fitness Routine

Linda has been running since she was in her 30’s and does not plan to stop running anytime soon. Today, she runs a six-mile run every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to keep her weekends open for other commitments. Linda has completed many half marathons, one full marathon, and two triathlons. In addition to running, she swims multiple days a week in an Olympic lap pool or the ocean’s open water. On her website, Linda says, “Fitness is a way of life for me, and I hope to encourage others to fall in love with it as much as I have!”

Linda’s Eating Habits

As someone who advocates for healthy living, Linda has been vegan for twenty years and has not eaten refined sugar for eight years. Linda shares her vegan meals with her daughters and friends, who find them delicious, which has given her the confidence to share her vegan cooking ideas on her website.

Linda’s Favorite Travel Destinations

At the end of this interview, Linda shares a few of her favorite travel destinations, including Machu Picchu in Peru, London, Paris, and Blarney Stone in Ireland. Linda’s favorite mode of travel is by cruise ship, and her all-time favorite destination on the planet is Alaska.