When we're younger, we have an idea of what our life is going to look like.
We imagine where we'll live, what kind of career we'll have, how successful we'll be, and maybe even what our life will look like by 40 or 50.
Then we get there.
And sometimes almost nothing looks the way we imagined it would.
There were so many things I thought would happen in my life when I was younger. Instead, completely different things happened. My career is one of them.
But I'm beginning to realize that reaching a certain age doesn't mean the story is already written.
Actually, I'm currently experimenting with something completely different myself.
I'm building a website. I'm writing. I'm learning social media. I'm creating content and putting parts of myself and my experiences in public in a way I never imagined doing before.
Is it time-consuming?
Absolutely.
Is it challenging?
Very.
Has it frustrated me?
Many times.
But I'm also having so much fun.
And I'm excited.
I don't know exactly where it will lead, and maybe that's part of what makes this stage of my life so interesting.
I Didn't Want This Ten Years Ago
It's easy to look backward when you discover something new and think:
Why didn't I start this years ago?
But when I think about where I was five or ten years ago, the answer is actually very simple.
I didn't see the need.
I was completely focused on my main career. I wanted to be successful, and I was putting my time and energy into doing everything I thought I needed to do to reach my professional goals.
I wasn't looking for extra hours in my week to invest in something that might succeed or might produce absolutely nothing.
My priorities were different.
And I think that's something we sometimes forget when judging our past decisions.
Maybe you didn't start something at 30 because you weren't interested in it at 30.
Maybe you didn't change careers at 40 because your career was working for you then.
Maybe the thing you desperately want today wasn't even something you were thinking about five years ago.
That doesn't mean you're late.
It means you've changed.
And your life changed with you.
Starting Something New Doesn't Mean Starting From Zero
The phrase starting over can sound terrifying when you're 40 or 50.
If you've spent 20 or 25 years building a career, the idea of going back to the bottom can feel almost ridiculous.
And personally, I understand that.
At this stage of my life, I would not leave my established career to enter something completely different at the very bottom and make almost no money.
That's not a decision I would make for myself.
What I'm doing with Chapter & Changes isn't that.
Right now, it's something I'm enjoying. It's a project that is keeping me busy during a difficult chapter of my life. It's allowing me to experiment with something completely different while still having my primary career.
But there's another kind of career change I would consider.
If another industry recognized that some of my years of experience could transfer into its business, I wouldn't mind being new to that industry.
Because changing industries doesn't necessarily erase everything you've already learned.
My background is in retail. After dealing with customers and associates for so many years, there are situations where I can recognize what's happening quickly simply because I've experienced some version of it before.
Experience gives you something that can't always be taught in a training class: recognition.
If I moved into a completely different industry tomorrow, there would obviously be things I wouldn't know.
I'd have to learn the business, its systems and its terminology.
But I wouldn't suddenly forget how to communicate with people, solve problems, handle difficult situations, make decisions, organize work or lead a team.
Those skills come with me.
Being New at Something Is Okay
After years of being experienced, suddenly becoming the person asking questions again can feel strange.
Someone younger than you might know more about the new industry or have to teach you a system you've never used.
That doesn't bother me.
I've never had a problem with an age gap. If someone knows something I don't know, I can learn from that person.
Their age doesn't change the value of what they know.
And my needing to learn something from them doesn't erase the things I know either.
I also don't want to pretend age never matters professionally.
I think there are sectors where age can potentially be more of an issue than others. In my experience, retail has people of many different ages, so I've never viewed getting older as something that automatically eliminates your opportunities.
But what I don't believe is that getting older automatically makes someone less capable of learning, changing or contributing.
A younger person may have strengths you don't have.
You may have strengths they haven't had enough time to develop yet.
It doesn't have to be a competition.
“Older People Aren't Good With Technology”
This is another idea I don't completely agree with.
I don't think older people are unable to use technology.
I think younger generations have simply been exposed to more of it for more of their lives.
If you've grown up using smartphones, apps, social media, online platforms and constantly changing technology, of course some of it will feel more natural.
Someone who is older may not have had a reason to use those same tools.
That's not inability.
That's exposure.
I'm experiencing this myself.
Building Chapter & Changes has required me to learn things that had nothing to do with the career I spent years building: websites, analytics, social media, content creation, and different platforms and tools.
Some things have been easy.
Some have made me want to scream.
But I'm learning them because now I have a reason to learn them.
And that reason makes a difference.
Learning Something Because You Want To
I think there is something interesting about learning later in life when you're doing it because you're genuinely excited.
When you have to learn something for work, you learn because it's required.
But when you're learning something you chose for yourself, the experience can feel completely different.
You're more curious.
You want to understand how things work.
You're willing to spend more time figuring something out because you actually care about the result.
That's how I feel about what I'm doing now.
It can be difficult and frustrating, but I'm enjoying it.
And enjoyment makes me want to keep learning.
By 40 or 50, you may also know yourself better. You may understand what excites you and what you don't want anymore.
So when you choose something new, you may be choosing it much more consciously than you would have years earlier.
You Don't Have to Make It Your New Career
Trying something new does not mean you have to immediately turn it into your career.
Not everything needs to make money.
Not every hobby needs a business plan.
Not every idea needs to replace your paycheck.
Sometimes you can simply try something.
If you want to write, write.
If you want to learn photography, learn it.
If there's a certification you've wanted, explore it.
If you want to start a small business on the side, research it.
If you want to build a website, build one.
Maybe it doesn't work, but you learn something.
Maybe you discover you hate it. Now you know.
Maybe you love it and keep going.
And if someday it becomes something bigger, you can decide what to do when you get there.
You don't have to know the ending before you're allowed to begin.
Completely Changing Your Career Is Different
There's a big difference between trying something new on the side and completely changing your professional life.
If you're going to leave an established career, give up income, change your benefits, reduce your financial security, relocate, return to school or make another major commitment, I don't think excitement alone is enough.
At that point, you need to understand why you're doing it.
Are you moving toward something you genuinely want?
Or are you simply desperate to escape what you have?
What will the new career require?
Can you support yourself while you're building it?
Which of your existing skills transfer?
What will you gain?
What will you give up?
And what happens if the transition takes longer than you expect?
At 40 or 50, many of us have responsibilities we didn't have at 20.
Pretending those responsibilities don't exist isn't courage.
You can be excited about changing your life and still have a plan.
Actually, I think you should.
Maybe We're Not Starting Over After All
The more I think about this subject, the less I like the idea that changing careers after 40 or 50 automatically means starting over.
Sometimes we're simply changing direction.
We're taking experience from one chapter and bringing it into another.
We're learning new skills.
We're discovering interests we didn't have ten years ago.
We're allowing ourselves to experiment.
And we're realizing that the career we built doesn't have to be the only thing we're capable of doing.
If there's something you've been thinking about doing on the side of your main job, try it.
Create something.
Learn something.
Take the class.
Start the project.
Have fun.
You don't need to know immediately whether it will succeed, make money or become your next career.
Sometimes trying something new is valuable simply because it reminds you that there are still parts of yourself you haven't discovered yet.
But if you're thinking about completely changing your life, treat that decision differently.
Make sure you're doing it for the right reasons.
Understand what you're leaving and what you're moving toward.
Respect the responsibilities you have today.
And build a solid plan.
Because starting something new at 40 or 50 doesn't mean throwing away everything you've already built.
You are not starting from zero.
You're starting with experience.
You're starting with mistakes you've already learned from.
You're starting with skills you didn't have at 20.
You're starting with a better understanding of yourself.
And maybe most importantly, you're starting with the knowledge that life doesn't always turn out the way we imagined when we were younger.
Sometimes it turns into something completely different.
And sometimes that completely different chapter can still surprise you.
Chapter & Changes — Life changes. We change with it.