It’s Never Too Late to Start Over

Don’t let my kumbaya posts fool you completely—my mid-life career shift has not come without moments of pulling my greying hair out. While I have rants aplenty for everyone to look forward to in the future, this one ended with a simple life lesson. And so I wanted to share…

I have no idea how I found writer and editor jobs in the past. I knew that’s what I wanted to do, was meant to do, and jobs just kept finding me. My world was small—I moved from New York magazine down the street to Us Weekly, and was then poached by competitor In Touch Weekly. I landed in Las Vegas covering celebs for In Touch, and of course I met all of the local journos there. I fell in love with the place and eventually landed at the helm of three local magazines there.

Then I gave it all up.

Journalism was dying, and I wanted to try something new. So hello, digital advertising and online marketing…I lasted six years and then was pulled back into magazines (for better or worse).

Now? After almost six years at a local media company in upstate New York, I again want to pull off a “I’ll try digital marketing and see what I can find”-esque change.

But the process is making me feel ancient.

First, I discovered that job listings now ask for your own website. What? I eventually found Authory.com and loaded her up. Success. I was aging backwards and feeling great.

But only when applying for writing jobs. I’m trying to change my life over here, and it’s becoming way too easy to fall back into exactly what I was doing before. The only experiences from my past that could help me try something different are my past marketing projects. But none are still online! I’m searching and searching, scrolling through pages and pages of Facebook posts and Google searches.

Two, I found two old projects, making that page of my brand-new online portfolio pretty bleak. How will I ever transition to marketing with that kind of “resume”?

I’m so angry at myself. I feel old. I vented to a friend, a male. He shrugged.

“You’re never too old to start over.”

Hmmmph. It’s advice I would give, and so I must take it. Even though most of the opportunities that have presented themselves over the last six months have been writing, I do want to use this pause to try new things…or get back into old things, which is basically the same thing due to the rate of changing technology.

I was pretty fearless when I was younger. Of course I was going straight to NYC to make it in the world of national magazines. Of course in my 30s, leaving journalism behind and strong-arming my way into marketing would work out. What was the alternative? Not working out? Never!

“You’re never too old to start over.”

My friend was right. We can channel the fearlessness of our younger selves and—as the kids are saying on TikTok—just “do the dang thing.”

I’ll let you know how mine goes.