Starting Over is Not For the Faint-Hearted

Many of you who know me well, know that I started a brand new career.  My former career ended abruptly after 18 years and not by choice.  I wish I had all the answers but I simply do not.  It is hard…..really hard to be in your late forties and begin again in an entirely different field.  I was a go to person for many individuals in my previous company.  I could answer most questions; I had the right responses for customers; I had years and years of experience and history with one industry and one product line.  My career was my world.  That, I do not advise!  And then, bam!  It was gone.  I felt lost all the time.  It was like I didn’t know who I was without that career.  It defined me in so many ways…partly because I had so much passion for that career and partly because the travel involved consumed my life.  What everyone experienced during COVID, I had really already experienced with the loss of my job.  I won’t go into all the feels and healing that needed to occur for me here but rather will focus on the next chapter.

So how does someone start over?  How did I begin again?  I just made a decision and committed wholeheartedly to the process and the education and embraced the new beginning. Have there been tears?  You know it!  There have been tears mostly with frustration of not knowing everything right away.  Going from knowing my medical device sales gig inside and out to being on a really steep learning curve with real estate was no joke!  It has taken guts and grit and determination.  And every transaction is a learning experience.  But I am doing it and I am succeeding!  Oh I have so much more growth ahead of me for myself and in my career but I am doing just fine.

I write this in hopes to be an encouragement for anyone else who finds themselves in this situation or simply wants to make a change.  I want you to know that you can do it!  Applaud yourself for every baby step!  Believe in yourself and surround yourself with people who believe in you. And find a great mentor!  I have mentored so many people in my career and have been blessed previously and now with wonderful mentors.

Change is hard especially change you do not really want.  I told myself that I had to be open to whatever opportunities presented themselves.  And I was and still am.  Change is inevitable and sometimes changes are made for us because we aren’t able or willing to make those changes on our own.  God has a way of getting our attention.

Today, I still miss my parts of my former career and sometimes it is still hard that it was taken from me.  However, I am also proud of myself for picking myself up and moving forward – for having the courage to begin again.  Even if you don’t believe it in the moment, I know you can do it too!