How I Knew It Was Time to Change Careers

I have been working, more or less without pause, since I was a teenager. With a few exceptions for pauses for education, work has been a constant presence in my life for the last two decades. When I was a teen, I wouldn’t have described work as a career. But after college, I found what felt like an exciting pathway. I worked in digital strategy & marketing for over a decade. I loved the puzzles, solving new and complex challenges, and forging new paths. Once I learned that I could marry my skills with my passion for helping people. I loved using my talents to serve a mission and found myself working in or for non-profit and NGO causes for many satisfying years.

Once I found the intersection of what I was good at, what I loved doing, what the world needed, and what I could be paid for (see Ikigai), I knew I had a career.

But it wasn’t all impact and rainbows. Working in corporate structures and progressing up the ladder came with a lot of challenges. As long as I saw the impact of my work in the world, I could generate the incredible resilience required to navigate a career in today’s professional landscape as a WOC. As long as I was in the center of my Ikigai (or, if you read this blog of often, as long as I was in alignment), I was all in.

When I could no longer see that my work was what the world needed, I stopped loving what I did. And when I stopped loving what I did, I knew it was time to change careers.

Changing Careers In My 30s

I won’t lie: I am flirtatiously close to 40. Doing a career shift in your late 30s is not for the faint of heart. So many people from my extended network were quite surprised I made this choice. Deciding to leave a successful career was not easy, nor was it easy to actually start on the path. It is a difficult thing to do, but, dear reader, it is not impossible.

So, how did I do it? Like this:

1. Recover: After the Great Tech Layoff, I was tired and burnt out, and my health was incredibly fragile. I didn’t set out to change careers at that point, but I knew that I needed to rest and recover to get a clear mind about the next steps.

2. Trust: I trusted that my body and spirit would guide me. If I felt unsure about or resistant to anything professionally— I took no action. I waited for my body to tell me it was ready to work again, and I trusted that when that happened, my intuition would guide me where I needed to be.

3. Noticing: I practiced noticing. How was I reacting (body, mind, spirit) to different stimuli? If a job posting came my way, what happened when I read it? If I had a conversation with a friend, went someplace new, read a book, or heard a new idea— I just noticed what came up. I didn’t do anything with it.

4. Curiosity: I knew it was time to start thinking about what was next when the sense of curiosity was alive in me again. I asked myself questions with non-judgmental curiosity: what was working in my career, when did it stop working, what did I need more of, what did I need less of etc.

5. Getting started: When the path became clear, I knew it would be long and difficult. And the fact that a long and difficult path energized me, I knew I landed at the right place. So I got started: reskilling with education and certification, practicing for many hours with mentors and peers, building and launching a web presence, and then taking clients and selling products.

6. Beginning again: this last step, I do almost every day. Starting a new career near 40 is NOT easy. It comes with its ups and downs. And requires its own special type of resilience. The courage to have a child’s mind (i.e. letting yourself be bad at something). And when you stumble or something doesn’t go exactly to plan, the courage to simply begin again tomorrow.

Wondering If You’re On The Right Path?

If you’re no longer fulfilled in your career, please know that you are not alone. If you’re wondering whether or not you’re on the right path in your life, guess what? You’re also NOT ALONE! For many years, our culture hasn’t given us permission to ask these questions or name these feelings out loud. That’s especially true for BIPOC, women, and mothers. So a big kudos to you for reading this blog. That’s big! Unfortunately, though, I can’t answer this question for you. Ultimately, only you can answer this question for yourself. To do that, it starts with asking this simple question and sitting in curiosity until you find the answer.

Already have the answer and wondering what to do next? Or already have the answer but you’re not exactly sure why or how you’re on the wrong path? Ah— I can help you answer those questions :) It’s what I live for…