Do be afraid of mid-career change

Tag : Designer Cushion

Nancy Irwin was in her early 40s when she changed her career fromstand-up comedy to psychotherapy. Having made such a dramaticturnaround, she thought to herself, "If I can do it, anybody can."

So she collected dozens of examples of people who also made majorlife changes after 40, including many who switch careers. Shedocumented their lives in the book "You-Turn: Changing Direction inMidlife." We caught up with Irwin to find out what she's learnedabout venturing down new paths.

Q . What are some of the professional changes featured in your book?

A . I have a man who was a Ph.D. theater critic, who went to medicalschool at Brown University at age 40. He's not a psychiatrist. Ihave a Harvard lawyer who is the head of UCLA law department who isnow a new-age healer (he does both). I have a woman who was abig-city corporate designer, and when her father passed away, shetook over his small-town knitting company, saving the jobs andlives of numerous elderly employees. There's a laid-off air-trafficcontroller who's now a rabbi.

Q . What do you need to have inside yourself to make such aprofessional change?

A . You need a wonderful support system, positive people surroundingyou. You need to take stock of all of your experience and skillsand know that everything is transferable. There are no dead ends.Nothing is a waste. Everything can be turned into something else.Don't limit yourself to what's in the classified ads. You can makeup something that has never existed before.

Q. What else can you say about making up something that hasn'texisted before?

A . This is a shining example of that: A man who was a culinaryinstitute catering director has started a nonprofit, rehabbing usedcars for low-income people. That never existed before. He was acook! A chef! And he loved cars. You want to look at all of yourhobbies and untapped skills. You never know what you can turn theminto.

Q . What usually precipitates these changes?

A. My book is divided into two sections. Change by default -- theywere dumped, they were fired, or they had a disease or injury. Andthen the other ones were change by choice. People who knewsomething was missing and wanted more. You want to just take a deepbreath and take a positive look at where you can go. It's anopportunity to look forward, not think you're stuck, which is whatmost Baby Boomers were trained to believe. We can change any aspectof our life. I have a 79-year-old who is in law school.

Q . What distinguishes change after 40?

A. The Baby Boomers were affected by the depression-era parenting.Our training was, pick a major very young, know what you're goingto be and stick to it. We were trained to fear change, and securitywas the be-all, end-all. What I'm training people to do is realizethe greatest security is you can deal with anything life presentsyou. There are only two innate fears: fear of falling and fear ofloud noises. It's not natural to be afraid of career change.

Q. How can a person prepare for such a change?

A . Having money helps. You don't have to -- certainly people havestarted businesses with five dollars -- but it does help if youhave a cushion of money. You want to make sure you're taking careof your health. You want to eat right, work out, get enough sleep,all of those things. Watch your alcohol intake, get massages,really nurture, and know that what you're going through isperfectly natural and that it can be an exciting challenge.