Career Change in 40s

 Some people are lucky, as they know what they want early in life. I have always been the indecisive one,  and of course being inherently lazy means I am not easily motivated.  My mother was a homemaker and a good one, and trying to mold my life according to her approval hasn’t exactly been stress free. Lately, due to change in financial status, or maybe just the realization that I just have maybe another 20 years of productive life, has made me think. In some ways, I have been forced to contemplate on my choices over the years and how my profound fear of failure has stunted my growth as an individual.

Women when they reach 40s, enter into a comfort zone. This is the beginning of era, when you learn from your past mistakes and make peace with yourself. I have learnt to understand and work around my limitations. I have now the wisdom of 40 years and know better than to look for approval and have reached a sort of happy zone. I have learnt to enjoy my own company, am not apologetic for losing my cool at times, and have managed to get the constantly nagging guilt conscience under control to a certain extent. As women, we deal with guilt all our lives – but then that’s a whole different topic.

Professionally though, my current status would be “work in progress” or more rightly “transition mode”. I am in the process of selling my business and on a lookout for a job. It took me 41 years to realize what I really want to do. It’s funny, because I remember when I was 18 years and wanted to be a psychologist, I was dissuaded by friends and family. Not that I blame them, I recently did the same with my older son.  Now years later, that’s the career that I am still interested in. I know, doing my graduation or masters would cost me a lot of money , which I cannot afford it right now, so am thinking of  (procrastinating)  of taking up diploma or certification in counseling. In the meantime, while I am still working at the store, I am job hunting. The fact that my kids are older   and independent, factors in heavily with the options I can choose now.

It’s not easy to find jobs when you haven’t upgraded your skill set in years, just because you didn’t need to. I have  experienced  this the hard way, that while you were growing older, there were youngsters entering the job market, who were more presentable and energetic than you. If my experience has been in customer service for last 10 years, and although that sufficed over the years, it’s very important to keep learning and growing and adding new skills if I have to survive a layoff. The job market , in slow economy especially , is harsher for people in this age group.

Steps for a career change in 40s would be:

Analyze your desire for change:  In my case, although the desire for change was dormant for years, I am literally pushed by my circumstances to choose a new career. Losing your job/ failing business can all ring in new opportunities and you into making choices you have been avoiding for years.  Sometimes, you need to shaken up from the trance we call life and explore avenues beyond our comfort zone.

Plan your change: You might decide to take a year off, or you just choose to retire, or change careers, whatever the choice you make, chalk out a long term plan. The last thing you want is to change course again in a couple of years or regret living your present life. Of course there are times when things just fall into place.

Be Ready: Once you have planned out your change/exit, be prepared to live with the consequences of your action.  It would be a fallacy to expect all your problems to go away or you to be in a euphoric state all the time just because your action. Being realistic (which in my case is far from true) rather than idealistic, helps in you being prepared for the disappointments that’s bound to occur.

As for me, I do have a certain plan, and its going to take time. But years of living has engrained a respect for time and patience. I am not even targeting for a career growth at the moment My plan right now is to list my business for sale and in the meantime look for a job, and I might end up with just a minimum wage paying job, but at least it will keep our head over water and knowing that I have something better planned should make things bearable. .

I know it’s not going to be a cakewalk getting back into the job market especially since I have always worked in a family business with lot of flexibility and the fear of failing, of being stifled has always restrained me from exploring new ventures, but it’ now time to strike on my own and this is a first step in the right direction. I still don’t if I will follow my dream of being a counselor, sometimes self-doubt can be a hindrance. I would really appreciate if anyone reading this has passed through this stage and what are your views on this.