Life and Career Reinvention After Age 40: Go for It!
Posted by Diana Needham on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
What do Ellen DeGeneres, Madonna, Jamie Lee Curtis, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Sharon Stone, Eve Plumb (Jan on “The Brady Bunch”), Joan Jett, Holly Hunter, Belinda Carlisle, Annette Bening, Andie MacDowell and Anita Baker all have in common? They all have turned 50 in the past year or so.
Recently, I have seen myriad magazines and articles related to the topic of “Life After 50.” If you followed the media in August, there was quite a focus on Madonna turning 50. This is a big deal in a society where youth typically rules. Here is a woman who has been a media icon for youth, beauty, talent and sex appeal for decades and continues to reinvent herself. What’s the message? We as women have much to look forward to as we move into our 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond.
I can honestly say that after I turned 40, I began to feel quite comfortable with who I was. One day I woke up, realizing that both of my children had either completed or were close to completing their college degrees and decided it was “Mom’s turn” … Mom’s turn to return to college, where I had barely enough credits for completion of the first year.
I had a highly successful career at one of the top banks in the country and everyone assumed I already had my degree. The fact was that, in the fast pace of corporate life, raising two children as a single mom, investing for their education, and fulfilling my social and other obligations, I had neglected my own educational development. I realized that securing my degree would not translate to a higher salary or increase the level of respect for me in the financial services industry. It was a personal goal, a personal mission that I embarked upon. I enrolled in an accelerated business administration bachelor’s program, and for the next four years, I went to classes at night and during the summer while I continued my fast-paced career. I took no breaks or time off. My graduation in May 2004 was a grand celebration of this personal achievement.
But I’m not the only one who decided to make a change. Today, in my work with women, it’s pretty exciting to see what women at 40 and beyond are doing in their lives. They are reinventing themselves in ways they never dreamed of earlier in their lives.
In our early 20s and 30s, many of us go to college and obtain a degree in something that interests us at that moment in time. We pursue our careers, and in some cases, we become involved in relationships and begin our families. We either continue our career path and combine that with motherhood or take a break to focus solely on family. Whether we are working inside the home or outside the home (or both!), a woman’s life becomes consumed with the efforts of integrating our home life with a work and personal life.
Somewhere beyond our mid-30s, we begin to ask ourselves: “What’s next?” “Is this all there is for me?” “Could there possibly be something else for me in my future when my children leave home?” The questions begin rather quietly, and many times, with all of the noise coming from everything else in our lives (family, friends and career), we don’t hear them right away. We begin to feel that something is not quite right. As we see 40 on the horizon, the voice becomes louder until we no longer can ignore it.
This is when women begin to create the space in their lives to take a deeper look and uncover what’s next for them as they move into their 40s, 50s and beyond.
We are much wiser at this stage of life, and the thought of a new adventure creates an incredible energy source as we begin to follow a new dream or idea.
How about you? Are you a woman in your 40s, 50s, 60s or beyond who’s looking at what’s next? Do you have a creative idea that’s just bubbling inside of you waiting to come out? What are you passionate about? What do you daydream about?
It’s the perfect time to realize a big idea, dream or goal. When I was in my late 40s, I began to daydream about working with women to help them move their lives to the next level, whatever that might be for them. And in my early 50s, I found the right teachers, coaches and mentors who would help me to achieve my passion and dream.
I invite you to think about what might be next for you as you move into this phase of your life, this glorious phase called the 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond.
Anything is possible. Everything is waiting for you.
Note: This article is my personal story, called “It’s Mom’s Turn to Shine”. It appeared in the Charleston (SC) Post and Courier on Feb. 20, 2009.
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