It ain’t over!
In February, I had dinner with a former colleague who works in the tech industry and is currently keeping her head down at her job and coasting (a very fair choice). In passing, she mentioned that her true dream was to make movies. I came back to that topic and asked her what had happened to that dream and if she was still interested in pursuing it. Her answer: “Oh no. It’s too late.”
Reader, this woman is 39 years old.
I have been hearing various versions of this sentiment lately and it flabbergasts me.
Let’s ignore jobs held during school, and assume that she graduated from college when she was 22. That means, at this point, she has been working a grand total of 17 years.
If she stops working at the current average retirement age in the US—64 years old— she still has 25 more years of work left! There’s a lot more work in front of her than behind her.
If you share her view, I don’t blame you. Time moves more quickly as we get older, learning new things can feel insurmountable, and transitioning to anything else feels like you’ll have to “start over”.
But, consider these tidbits…
Vera Wang started her fashion career at 40 after being a figure skater and journalist for years.
Julia Child became a chef at 50 after her career in advertising.
Diana Nyad went back to marathon swimming after a 30 year retirement to become the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida (110 miles) without the use of a shark cage for protection. She was 64. (I highly recommend the movie based on her life if you need motivation to do big things later in life.)
Tidbits about famous people don’t connect with you? I’ve got you. How about…
My mom was a stay-at-home mom and homeschool teacher for two decades before transitioning to being a Program Coordinator for 4-H (America’s largest youth development organization) and completing her Master's in Business at 59.
A former colleague got laid off last year and is using the break to figure out what she really wants to be doing. As she put it “…where do I want to work?? What I'm trying to do is to find people that I resonate with or respect… I decided to apply for only positions [where] I can see myself working at these companies.” She’s 49.
Or the woman my friend Sara met recently who was a PhD ecologist before she transitioned to teaching at 58. Then, when she retired at 65, she took an interest in illustration. So, she took classes at RISD and started teaching that!
Yes, I realize ageism is a thing (especially for women, who are discriminated against for being too young and too old almost simultaneously) but what I’m hearing is not the system holding individuals back, but themselves.
So, considering age is just a number, what do you want to do when you grow up?
