Considering a midlife career change? 4 reasons you absolutely have to do it

Are you thinking about making a major career change, even though you are approaching or over 40? Even in your 50’s or 60’s? Are you worried that you won’t succeed, that you won’t be able to support yourself? Does it feel too late?

A midlife career change can feel risky and maybe you aren’t sure you should try to pull it off. So let me make it easy for you. Yes! Yes, you can! Yes, you must! It’s actually a really great idea.

Here are 4 reasons a midlife career change is an absolute must-do.

1. To establish more contemporary, in-demand skills

Look, you’re older. You’re wise and experienced. No matter what you have been doing, you have transferable skills. Soft skills are particularly transferrable. But if you have been doing the same type of work for many years, you are digging yourself a trench. You have gotten particularly good at something. That’s great! But the deeper into specialization you get, the harder it is to get out. That’s not a problem…if you can’t ever see yourself wanting to do something different. But if you aren’t entrenched in your dream job, it’s time to consider something new.

Here’s the best news – it has never been easier to learn new skills! With the internet and YouTube and online course platforms like Udemy.com, the knowledge you need to attain a new skill is already at your fingertips and is often quite affordable, if not free.

The more in-demand skills you attain, the more marketable you will be, and the more options you will have. The more options available to you, the better chance you have to find something new and different that satisfies you personally and financially. This all leads to more skills, more experience, more options. This is a good road.

2. To find contentment and fulfillment

Career fulfillment matters. One reason it is so valuable is that people tie their identity to their careers. They need to feel proud of what they do and assured that they make a difference. If they do not feel this way they tend to feel like personal failures.

In my experience, contentment and fulfillment in my career have a significant impact on my personal and professional relationships. I take my dissatisfaction to work and I bring it home with me. I become a chronic complainer, especially at home, and exude depression and moroseness, like a more boring Eeyore. Because of this, my husband has been my biggest supporter in a career change, even though he risks as much as I do.

In short, maintaining a career without a sense of fulfillment is not healthy mentally and it’s not conducive for a comfortable and contented family life.

3. To reduce stress

If you’re like most of us, you are experiencing some level of work-related stress. According to Stress.org, 83% of US workers suffer from workplace stress. It’s well documented that chronic stress is unhealthy, presenting myriad physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms. You didn’t sign up for that. You don’t deserve that.

The Mayo Clinic prescribes the 4 A’s for combating stress: Avoid, alter, accept, and adapt. These four words all say a similar thing: Take control. Making a career change is one of many ways to accomplish this. If your career is a major source of your stress and the thought of changing it up sounds like a big relief to you, then a career change may be just what the doctor ordered. Even if the new career is more challenging with longer hours and more responsibilities, it still may very well result in a lower stress career. In part, because you chose it. You did it for you, and it’s where you want to be.

The simple act of taking control and making a change for yourself is stress-relieving just because you want to. It always has been for me.

4. To follow your gut

Following your gut instinct gets a bad rap. Where’s your data? Where is the science to back up your decision? It’s in your mind and your body, that’s where. Intuition is a result of subconscious processing. You know you know, but you don’t know how you know. Still, you know. If you feel that it is time to make a career change, if you feel that in your gut, it might be the exact right thing to do.

Harvard Business Review wrote about trusting a gut instinct when it comes to venture capitalism. According to their reporting, the time to listen to a gut feeling is when you are seeking a “diamond in the rough” type of decision. When you seek the high risk, high reward payoff. A career change is not unlike venture capitalism. Think of your new career as your own little startup. Bet on yourself. Trust your gut.

Sink or swim?

It’s not without risk. You have likely developed a reputation and a slew of experience. A career change often results in a lower income, at least to start. There are some initial steps down. But you grow from there, you’ve done it before.

What if you give yourself no choice but to succeed? Could you do it? Remember in the old days of child-rearing, when you wanted to teach your kid to swim? You just threw them in the pool! (Disclaimer: I am not advocating this approach for swim lessons).

If you’re agonizing over whether you should or whether you should not, and the thought of foregoing the midlife career change doesn’t give you a sense of relief, then it may be time to take the plunge. There are good reasons to. Step down into the pool so you can start to swim.