Sarah Herzing: What Comes Next Is Hers to Choose

At 46, Sarah Herzing is in a phase of life that feels more distinctly her own.

Her two sons are grown. She has built a long career through experience, determination and a willingness to keep moving forward. For the past eight years, she has worked at the Belleville Police Department, where she now serves as an administrative supervisor. Alongside that career, she has created an additional stream of income through Melaleuca (a wellness company offering household, personal care, nutrition and everyday products), remained committed to fitness, fostered animals and continued supporting causes that matter deeply to her.

More than anything, though, Sarah is beginning to think about the years ahead differently.

For much of her life, decisions were driven by responsibility. There was always something that needed to be handled, someone who needed her, a bill that needed to be paid or another practical choice waiting to be made. Now, with her sons 30 and 24, she has more room to ask a question that once felt almost like a luxury: What do I want the next part of my life to look like?

She wants to travel. She hopes grandchildren will eventually be part of her future. She wants enough financial freedom that retirement doesn’t mean working until her late 60s before she gets to enjoy her life. And she wants to create more space for the part of herself that has always been drawn to helping animals.

For a woman who learned responsibility very early, this chapter isn’t about starting over.

It’s about choosing more intentionally.

“I’m in a different spot than most people my age. My kids are grown.”

Building a Career Without the Traditional Blueprint

Sarah’s working life was never built around a carefully mapped-out plan.

At 21, she earned her GED and went on to build a career through work ethic and experience rather than college. She spent 14 years with Allsup, steadily moving up within the company. When layoffs and pay cuts eventually came and employees were faced with difficult choices, Sarah decided she wasn’t willing to make less after giving more than a decade to the company.

She took the severance package and moved forward.

Her next opportunity took her to Washington University, where she worked for about a year and a half. When changes involving the physicians she worked with left her looking for another position, Sarah began searching for something closer to home and noticed an opening at the Belleville Police Department.

It was a secretary position, and taking it meant accepting a pay cut. She applied anyway.

Within approximately nine months, Sarah was promoted to administrative supervisor, and eight years later, she still genuinely enjoys the work. She likes the people, the pace and the fact that there is rarely a dull moment.

The job has also changed her.

“I don’t take as much crap as I used to. I used to be a big pushover.”

Managing people has taught Sarah the importance of boundaries, accountability and difficult conversations. Working within a police department has also exposed her to situations most people never see, giving her a different perspective on human behavior and on what happens behind the scenes in everyday communities.

She still wants to see the good in people. She simply isn’t as naive about them as she once was.

Much of Sarah’s life has involved learning when to help, when to trust and when to stand her ground.

Responsibility Came Early

Sarah’s independence didn’t begin with her career.

It began much earlier.

She grew up in New Baden, Illinois, and at 14 became pregnant with her first son. She was still a teenager, couldn’t yet drive and hadn’t finished school, but suddenly had to make a decision that would reshape the course of her life.

Her father made it clear that the decision belonged to Sarah. He told her he would support her whether she chose to continue the pregnancy and raise the child, pursue adoption or end the pregnancy.

Sarah chose to have her son, and her father stood behind her. He drove her to doctor’s appointments, helped financially and gave Sarah and her baby a place to live. Her son’s father’s family was supportive as well.

Even with that support, Sarah knows now that there was no way for a 14-year-old to fully understand what becoming a mother would demand.

“You don’t really understand the type of responsibility it’s going to be until it’s there.”

At 16, she faced another decision: continue high school or begin working so she could help provide for her child.

Sarah chose work.

She left school, got a job and began taking on responsibilities most teenagers weren’t yet thinking about. She remained with her father until she was around 18 or 19, and she and her son’s father, who had begun dating when she was 14 and he was 16, stayed together for several years before eventually separating.

Later she married and had her second son at 22. At the time, stability mattered to her. She had already spent years raising a child and carrying adult responsibilities, and marriage felt like another step toward creating the secure life she wanted.

Looking back, she understands something now that she couldn’t have understood then: being responsible at a young age doesn’t necessarily mean you’re emotionally ready for every adult decision.

The marriage eventually ended.

Sarah kept moving forward.

That became one of the patterns of her life. Not having everything figured out didn’t stop her from figuring out the next thing.

Creating Financial Breathing Room

By her 40’s, Sarah had a career, grown children and decades of experience behind her. She assumed some of the financial stress of her younger years would finally be behind her.

Then everyday expenses began climbing.

Groceries, insurance, utilities and housing all became more expensive, while raises through her municipal position didn’t always keep pace. Sarah found herself frustrated that, after working since she was 16, she could still feel financial pressure at an age when she thought life would feel more settled.

“I always thought, ‘I won’t be struggling by 40.’”

She didn’t want to simply accept that and wanted another source of income and more control over her future.

The opportunity she eventually chose wasn’t new. Her twin sister Sadie, had been involved with Melaleuca for years, and Sarah had been a customer long before she decided to build the business herself.

Years earlier, she had considered doing exactly that. But Sarah says her then-husband criticized her involvement, made fun of her posts and accused her of copying her twin sister. Eventually, she decided the conflict wasn’t worth it and stopped pursuing the opportunity.

Years later, after seeing what her sister had built, Sarah sometimes wondered what might have happened had she trusted herself and continued.

There is frustration in that reflection, but not a desire to remain stuck there.

“I can’t change it. It’s in the past.”

In February 2025, Sarah made the decision to begin again.

This time, she did it because she wanted to.

Sarah says she earned approximately $3,700 during her first month and around $30,000 in additional income during her first year. The number was important but what changed at home mattered more.

She wasn’t putting groceries on a credit card. Financial anxiety eased. She had more breathing room and began to see the possibility of building something alongside the career she already had.

Her twin sister Sade became an important mentor, but Sarah also discovered that her own strength within the business came from something very natural to her: people.

“I’m not a salesperson. I love people. I love to talk to people. I can talk to anybody.”

She especially enjoys connecting with people in person, and she says the experience has introduced her to more people than she could have imagined.

Strength Looks Different Now

Fitness has been another steady part of Sarah’s adult life.

She began working out regularly in her mid-20’s after her twin sister Sadie asked her to join her. What started as something they did together became Sarah’s own habit, and through different jobs and different seasons of motherhood, she continued making exercise part of her life.

For years, she has often worked out during lunch breaks. Today, having access to a gym at work allows her to continue that routine. Some days, 30 minutes walking on an incline is enough.

For Sarah, movement isn’t only about appearance.It helps her feel better, gives her energy and creates a sense that she has done something for herself. But she also understands that fitness at 46 doesn’t look exactly like fitness at 26.

Sarah underwent cervical disc replacement surgery in 2020 and is more cautious now about how heavily she lifts. She has also noticed that her body responds differently than it did when she was younger and that getting the same results can require more effort.

After seeking medical guidance, Sarah recently began hormone therapy under a provider’s care and continues monitoring her levels and evaluating what adjustments may be appropriate.

It’s another lesson in learning to meet herself where she is now. Not everything has to be conquered by pushing harder.

Sometimes strength looks like paying attention.

Sarah also shares this stage of life with her longtime boyfriend, Mark. The two have been together for six years after meeting through the Belleville Police Department, where Mark is a lieutenant. Fitness is something they have in common as well—Mark has been heavily involved in CrossFit and has even stepped in as a coach in the past. Together, they are part of the life Sarah has built now: one that looks very different from the years when she was a young mother simply trying to figure out the next step.

The Dream Behind the Work

One of the clearest things about Sarah is that money itself isn’t the end goal.

Freedom is.

Ask her what she would love to spend more of her life doing, and animals quickly enter the conversation.

Sarah fosters primarily cats, choosing them because her work schedule makes puppies more difficult to care for responsibly. She doesn’t want to take in an animal unless she can give it what it needs.

Animal rescue has become one of the most meaningful parts of her life. Sarah supports Metro East Humane Society through a portion of her business sales and has also begun the process of supporting St. Clair County TNR.

However her long-term vision goes further.

Someday, Sarah would like to have a weatherized facility where she could take overflow animals from humane societies and rescue organizations. To her, creating more space isn’t simply about having another building. It means another organization has room for the next animal that needs help.

“If animal care paid better, I would 100 percent be in animal care.”

She wants financial security, but she also wants financial freedom—the kind that could eventually allow her to spend more of her time doing something because she loves it, not because it has to provide a paycheck.

She wants to travel. She wants to enjoy future grandchildren if they come. She wants to retire without feeling like she has to work until there is no energy left for anything else.

And she wants to help animals.

The additional business she is building may ultimately become a bridge between the life she has to maintain and the life she would love to create.

What She Would Tell the Younger Sarah

When Sarah is asked what she would say if she could sit across from her younger self, the answer isn’t about career strategy, money or success.

It’s about perspective.

“Don’t stress so much. Things are going to work out the way they’re supposed to.”

She would tell herself not to take life so seriously. Not to be so easily offended. Not to let hurt feelings take up so much space. Not to assume every problem is permanent simply because it feels enormous in the moment.

“Life is just not that serious. Things are not as serious as we make them out to be.”

Sarah would also tell that younger version of herself to pay closer attention to the people she loves.

Enjoy your family.

Appreciate the small moments.

Don’t take people for granted.

Don’t assume there will always be more time.

“We’re not promised tomorrow.”

There are choices Sarah would make differently if she could make them again with everything she knows now. She wishes she had worried less. She wishes she had trusted herself more. There are opportunities she can look back on and wonder about.

But that’s different from believing her life should have unfolded another way.

She understands now that every version of Sarah made decisions with the maturity, information and circumstances she had at the time.

The 14-year-old Sarah couldn’t think like the 46-year-old Sarah.

She wasn’t supposed to.

Choosing Herself Now

What makes this time different isn’t that Sarah suddenly has an easy life.

She still works full time. She is building a second source of income. She exercises, fosters animals and keeps a full schedule.

The difference is that she knows herself better.

She has learned that there is more than one way to build a successful life. She earned her GED after leaving school and built a career without a college degree. She worked her way into leadership. She raised two sons. She learned boundaries. She learned that being kind doesn’t require being a pushover. She learned that another person’s criticism doesn’t have to become her direction.

Most importantly, she has learned that getting older can give you something youth rarely does:perspective.

Sarah became responsible for someone else before she had much opportunity to figure out who she wanted to be herself. Much of her adult life was spent responding to what needed to happen next.

Now, at 46, she has more room to choose.

And she can choose to listen to the advice she wishes she could have given herself decades ago.

Learn more about purchasing Melaleuca with Sarah: mymelaleuca.com

GlowInto Reflection: Not Everything Deserves the Weight We Give It

One of the things Sarah said during our conversation stayed with me: if she could talk to her younger self, she would tell her not to take everything so seriously.

I think there is something about reaching our 40’s and 50’s that finally gives us enough distance to understand what she means.

Think about how many things once kept us awake at night. The relationship we were certain we couldn't live without. The person who didn't like us. The mistake we replayed over and over. The job we didn't get. The embarrassing moment we were convinced everyone would remember. The argument that consumed an entire weekend. The plans that didn't work out the way we thought they should.

At the time, those things felt enormous.

And some of them were.

But so many weren't.

That's one of the gifts of getting older: perspective. We've lived long enough to watch problems resolve themselves, disappointments redirect us and endings eventually become beginnings we couldn't see coming. We've learned that people move in and out of our lives, careers change, children grow up, money comes and goes, and the thing that felt unbearable on a Tuesday can eventually become something we barely remember.

That doesn't mean we stop caring. It means we're learning to be more selective about what deserves the weight of our worry.

Maybe that's part of what it means to GlowInto this stage of life.

We stop allowing every opinion to become a verdict on who we are. We don't have to attend every argument we're invited to. We don't need everyone to understand our decisions. We can make a mistake without turning it into a definition of ourselves. And when something doesn't work out, we have enough life behind us to know that we probably haven't reached the end of the story.

Sarah had to become responsible incredibly young. She couldn't have possessed at 14 the perspective she has at 46. None of us could.

The point isn't wishing we could go back and give our younger selves everything we know now.

The opportunity is using that wisdom today.

Love your people. Pay attention to the moments that actually matter. Take the chance you've been talking yourself out of. Let someone's opinion of you belong to them instead of carrying it around as your own. And when life doesn't go according to plan, remember how many times you've already thought everything was falling apart—only to eventually find yourself standing somewhere you never could have imagined.

Life matters deeply.

But not everything that happens in it deserves to be carried so heavily.

Maybe growing older is finally learning the difference.

Story sponsored by Thriving Willow Coaching

As a board-certified nurse coach,
I bring the compassion of a coach and the expertise of a healthcare professional.
That means: Evidence-based strategies you can trust. Compassionate, judgment-free support in a safe space. Whole-person health coaching that looks beyond quick fixes.