Ask the Readers | Second Careers

Hi Kristen! Have you ever done a general Q&A post about second careers? Your stories about nursing school have me wondering what other careers people have transferred to later in life. I’ve been a SAHM, and out of the workforce for awhile, but now that my kids are all school age, I’d like to take advantage of my extra time to do something fulfilling and add to the household income.

-Jen

I don’t think we’ve ever discussed this here, at least not specifically.

I love this topic, though! I’ll share a few thoughts and then open it up for discussion.

In midlife, you’ve still got time

Sometimes we think the career path we chose at 18-22 years old is the one we have to stick with for our whole lives.

But the truth is that an average lifespan leaves a lot more time to pivot than we think.

Take me, for example. I taught piano lessons for almost 20 years (I started when I was 14), I was a paid church musician for 10 years, and I’ve been blogging for over 16 years.

(Obviously, those jobs overlapped each other.)

Plus, I raised four kids and homeschooled them all from kindergarten through high school.

 

Even with all of that, though, I’ve still got time for another career.

Years ago, I used to say, “Oh, if I had another lifetime, I’d become a labor and delivery nurse.” And at some point I realized, I would sort of have a second lifetime available to me, because I was only going to be 45 when Zoe graduated from high school!

 

So, here I am, planning to graduate with my RN in May, at the age of 47.

People say to me, “Oh, I think I’m just too old to go to nursing school.” and yes, I am usually one of the oldest people in my class. But I really, really don’t think this degree is going to be a waste because (assuming an average lifespan) I still have time! 

Even if I retire at age 65, this graduation date gives me 18 years to practice nursing if I want.

That is not an insignificant amount of time, but somehow we tend to write off those 18 years, while thinking the 18 years from age 22-40 are more significant.

On a related note:

The years will pass no matter what you do

If I said to myself, “Ugh, well, I will already be 47 by the time I have my degree! That’s so old to be starting out in a career.”, I might not have started school.

But if I didn’t go back to school, I’d still be turning 47 this year; the only difference is that I wouldn’t have an RN degree to my name.

So, I’m glad I started. Time passes either way!

You get to pick a second career with your adult brain

One of the very nice things about picking a career as an adult is that…your brain is fully developed. You know more about life and you also know more about yourself, which is so helpful.

When I was 18, I would not have picked nursing as a career, so if I’d completed college back then, I’d be holding a degree my 46-year-old self doesn’t want!

But since I’m getting a degree later in life, I’m able to pick exactly what current-me wants to do.

You get to bring soft skills into a second career

To state the obvious, I’m getting basically the same scientific/practical nursing education I’d have gotten if I went to school for this degree in my 20s (with the caveat that medical science is always updating, so things change in that sense.)

But a big advantage of going into nursing at my age is that I’ve got a bunch of soft skills now, the type you accumulate just by living life.

Compared to my 20-year-old self, I have more interpersonal skills, more time management skills, and I bring lots of life experience as well. I’m just a more well-rounded individual at this point, and I think that is going to make me more valuable at work.

In midlife, your career choice can be less about money

When we are just starting out as adults, money is necessarily a big driver when it comes to career choice.

But when you pivot to a new career later in life, you often have more financial wiggle room. And when that’s true, you can choose a career more for the love of it than for the money.

___________________

And now I want to hear from you:

Tell us about your second career experiences/plans!

Tips? Advice? Dos/don’ts? Tell us.