You eventually stop wondering, “What do I want to be?” in exchange for, “Is this really something I’m destined to keep doing?” Maybe it kept a roof over your head. Maybe you closed your eyes when you graduated, and now you’re ten years in, working with spreadsheets or meetings you don’t necessarily get a rush from anymore. You’re not the only one. It used to generally be a massive risk shifting lanes in life after a period.
You’re Building on a Solid Foundation
You’re taking along everything you’ve learned. Every tough boss, every team win, every project fail, every late night, every early morning has given you tools, skills you don’t yet have when you first begin. That’s your advantage. Your second career isn’t the kind of leap you made when you were 21. It’s a transition you make with increased understanding, increased lines in the sand, a whole darned lot more self-knowledge.
The Paycheck Isn’t the Only Priority Anymore
Yes, money matters. It always will. There’s a point, though, where other things get in motion near the top of the list: liberty, purpose, flexibility, your true well-being. Maybe now you want to work fewer hours or only for people you love. Maybe you want something for yourself. Clarity like this rarely comes in your twenties. It’s an earned switch, though, and it opens doors you never knew were shut.
The Planet Is More Open Than Ever to Being Remade
Everybody is familiar with career leaps. Your résumé is not going to provoke furrowed brows just because your timeline does not spell out a pretty little ladder. In fact, a change in direction can be a good thing. It makes you interesting. It shows you’ve done a whole lot of thinking about where you are heading and how you want to show up in the world. And in a whole lot of careers, that kind of bravado is a distinguishing characteristic.
You Don’t Scream in Order to Be Passionate
You don’t necessarily have to throw everything out the window and follow your childhood dream of being an astronaut. Second careers are not always glamorous. Sometimes, they are nuanced, impactful changes. Like from project management to small business consulting. From working in finance to a career in freelance writing. From working in design for a corporation after being an online professor in video editing.
Confidence Is in a Different Form Now
When you are younger, you are often confident based on faking it till you make it. Now, you are confident based on knowing what you are no longer willing to do. You know how you say no. You know how you hold your ground. This is confidence that gives your second career genuine staying power. It’s because you are no longer looking for permission; you are making your decisions, and that is a different type of power.
You Don’t Necessarily Come Immediately as an Expert
The pressure to “know it all” can catch up quickly, especially when you’re making a career transition. You didn’t necessarily know everything the first go either. You learned it as you went along and grew. And you’ll do the same again. It’s okay to ask questions. It’s okay to Google stuff. It’s okay to be new to something and yet offer value.
You Are Likely to Build Something Tailored for You
The first time around, you may well have done whatever opportunity thrust itself in your direction first. Now you can say: Does this suit my life? Is it consistent with the way I desire to live? Do I even enjoy this? Those questions are worth far more than a title or a function. As you grow older, you simply don’t waste any effort in trying to shape yourself into your work, but in shaping your work into your life. Now, now, now, things get really interesting.
The Support Networks Are Much Stronger Now
Whether it’s a partner urging you on, a mentor who’s been through it, a group online of like-minded people, you probably now have a few good voices in your corner. Of course, that matters. It makes a difference to have people who believe in you making the change, who keep you in mind when you’re second-guessing everything, it can get you through the muddy middle when you’re second-guessing everything.
You Now Have Options You Didn’t Have Before
Go back ten, fifteen years. Working from home wasn’t very common. Freelance writing wasn’t very stable. Building an online business seemed formidable. And now you can operate in other time zones, build a brand with nothing more than a phone, or share something you know from your kitchen table. If you ever said, “I wish I could do something different,” now is the time to experiment. What you could never do then can now be done with less anxiety than you think.
You Don’t Know the Meaning of Fulfilment
Sometimes, understanding what you do want is a function of understanding what you don’t want to live through any longer. Toxic workplaces. Wasting work. Chronic burnout. If you’ve been through it, you know how much that can sap your motivation. Clarity like that can be fuel. It simplifies your decision-making. It lets you build something with intent. It makes your second career all the sweeter, because it’s rooted in experiences you learned the hard way.
Steps Are Measured in Small Counts, Though None Notice Them
You don’t necessarily have to make a huge announcement or jump off the career cliff come tomorrow. Start where you are. Pick up a book. Take a course. Ask someone who is already doing something you are curious about. Devote an hour a week towards learning something new. Even tiny steps get you going. And someday you’ll look back and see those little steps added up to something tangible. Something you created for you, in your schedule.
If there is something inside you that’s been calling for a shift, don’t hold back. Listen to that little voice or gut feeling. Ask yourself how much work would honestly get you a sense of pride, or calm, or energy, a little.
Need help with figuring out what’s next? Then ask yourself what people are already asking you for help with. What you were good at all the time. What you can talk for hours about without ever getting tired. Then again, you can teach video editing online, something that feels light, useful, and totally within reach while the bigger picture unfolds.
Since, at times, your second act isn’t a plan B. It’s the life you were destined to write.
