Mid life career change
Why is it that so many people seem to need a mid life career change? Does it take until this point for us to need a change or is it that our life circumstances have shifted and we’re finally able to do it? Or is it around middle age that we start to question whether our goals and values have shifted since we first set them, and if our lives now reflect these?
I often find when I talk to people about the fact that I’m looking to do something new, their response is normally ‘I’d love to, when my kids are a bit older’ or ‘I’d love to, once we’ve paid off our mortgage.’ We want something to change but we don’t want to upset the apple cart. We don’t want it badly enough to give up the known perks of our current situation to take a chance on finding something that could bring us more happiness. But how long should we wait?
For me it took 3 years. That’s right, 3 years of opening acknowledging that I wanted to make a mid life career change before I pulled the pin and did something about it. I had the same rational discussions with myself and my partner about the pros and cons and when would be the best time, but do we ever really know when the best time to do something is?
It’s like when you decide to have kids. Sure, you can read books, set up a nursery and install the car seat, but that doesn't really make you ready to be a parent. How can you be? Life doesn’t come with an instruction manual (and neither do kids unfortunately!)
What about when we’re faced with a major hurdle in life. You might be financially stable and have a good support network, but you could still be thrown for a loop anyway. Given that we don’t know when these might occur, we just rely on the fact that we’ll work it out if and when it happens. But that’s not the same as choosing to make a mid life career change.
One of my favorite authors Brené Brown writes in her book Dare to Lead about how to choose courage over comfort. I love this idea - that we can choose to practice our values rather than staying on the easy path. Choosing to put ourselves out there and look for something better, rather than settling for the simple path.
So when do you think it will be the right time start building the career you want moving forward? What has to happen for you to choose happiness over certainty?
