Mid Life crisis or Career change?
http://www.Printnpost.net/articles/6392/1/Mid-Life-crisis-or-Career-change/Page1.html
Jan Maupin
Jan Maupin is an advancing writer of social issues and interests. I am a member of ~ cafemom, changing times network, printnpost, helium, lindyslegacy.
I hold many jobs for "non-fear" of working. My husband and I both maintain full time jobs (to pay the bills), but also hold our own business selling : Scentsy, auctioneed storage units, raising and selling cattle, gardening and whatever else we may find.
By Jan Maupin
Published on 05/22/2008
Is the phrase "mid-life crisis" just that, a phrase? Or is it a wake up call? Thirty years ago the term mid-life crisis seemed to be a norm for those in their forty's and fifty's. Today I think we all look at this in a more mature manner and think half of our lives are gone and you question what the next half is going to be like!
What are you going to do?
Mid Life crisis or Career change?
Have you ever came to a point in your life and wondered what the hell? A time lapse of the last few decades start passing in front of you and you begin to wonder what have you accomplished?
You have since raised your children, worked day in and day out in one type of job or career, bought a few cars and trucks, made a home, family, etc., and then you get to a point and start wondering, now what? What is the next decades going to bring? As a wife and mother it seems those 2 to 3 decades were all taken up being just that. You didn't have a name other than "Julie's mom", or "John's wife". You may be or were working in an office to help make ends meet and then the door opens and you look up and start wondering what is on the other side. A curiosity starts to take hold because now you can actually be known for the name your parents gave you, but what is within that name? The last decades were dedicated to the family. Now you have more free time so what do you do.
I hate or actually despise the television commentaries when they are trying to take a housewife and mother and transform her "home skills" into "office skills". Really, is someone actually going to hire you because we knew how to balance a checkbook, or sweep the floors, or organize childrens' birthday parties? Someone please, tell me you actually hired a mom who has came back into the workforce!
I have many skills myself and have been in the workforce for over 25 years, but I myself am limited when I look into making a career change. When you have been in a special field you are generalized on that type of software and skills. To try and make a career change involves some creative rearranging on the old trusty resume. Toning down the skills that you may not want to be so recognized for that has kept you in your present field and arranging the content and experience of the ones you want to promote. Even someone as seasoned as I am in my field will have a tough time making a career change. Does this then transform itsself into the old saying of mid-life crisis? Are we stuck in a field that you have dedicated yourself to and your knowledge just because it was the right choice at the time, the salary was good - for a time. Do we just sit back and continue down the same path because you can see the other side but cannot seem to get to the other side of that door!
Our world is wider now than it has ever been. There are so many more opportunities than we could of ever imagined. Did you know that back around (don't quote me on the year or the decade) the 1920's or so I heard that there was a huge controversy about closing up the U.S. Patent office. Our fore fathers thought that anything and everything that could possibly be invented was invented! They thought that their world was as perfect as it was ever going to get! Well, hello Space Shuttle & the Mars rover!
If you can imagine that our minds get so blocked with the "normalcy" than we would not be where we are now. The world and enterprises need fresh minds, someone that wants to make a career change can bring new thoughts to the work place because they are coming in with a completely different perspective. In the field I am in now, there are few changes and then you get blocked by the ones that have been there also for a thousand years and can't seem to take on new concept. It actually scares them to open that door and look at what is on the other side. The changes that we have made here in America is from the innovative thinkers, the ones who ventured outside that door. They are the ones laying the path for the rest to follow! So, why should some of us be afraid of a mid-life crisis, or excuse me, "a career change", you could be the next path maker.
Do not be afraid to venture outside the door, in the first decade of raising our families our career skills are limited to what we have to do to make ends meet, after the empty nest syndrome dissolves and you begin to wonder what else is out there we can put to use all of those event plannings we did for the birthdays, holidays, vacations etc. Include the "life experiences" on your resume, why not!
In my early years I did all the admistrative type work, mid life has been structured only in insurance, now I am expanding into the world of writing, photography and sales. I haven't quite found my niche, I'm still searching. Mid-life crisis or broadening my horizons? I prefer the latter.
Expand yourself, do not be afraid to look outside that door, step out, smell the fresh air. The next decade depends on you. What do you want to be when you grow up?
You have since raised your children, worked day in and day out in one type of job or career, bought a few cars and trucks, made a home, family, etc., and then you get to a point and start wondering, now what? What is the next decades going to bring? As a wife and mother it seems those 2 to 3 decades were all taken up being just that. You didn't have a name other than "Julie's mom", or "John's wife". You may be or were working in an office to help make ends meet and then the door opens and you look up and start wondering what is on the other side. A curiosity starts to take hold because now you can actually be known for the name your parents gave you, but what is within that name? The last decades were dedicated to the family. Now you have more free time so what do you do.
I hate or actually despise the television commentaries when they are trying to take a housewife and mother and transform her "home skills" into "office skills". Really, is someone actually going to hire you because we knew how to balance a checkbook, or sweep the floors, or organize childrens' birthday parties? Someone please, tell me you actually hired a mom who has came back into the workforce!
I have many skills myself and have been in the workforce for over 25 years, but I myself am limited when I look into making a career change. When you have been in a special field you are generalized on that type of software and skills. To try and make a career change involves some creative rearranging on the old trusty resume. Toning down the skills that you may not want to be so recognized for that has kept you in your present field and arranging the content and experience of the ones you want to promote. Even someone as seasoned as I am in my field will have a tough time making a career change. Does this then transform itsself into the old saying of mid-life crisis? Are we stuck in a field that you have dedicated yourself to and your knowledge just because it was the right choice at the time, the salary was good - for a time. Do we just sit back and continue down the same path because you can see the other side but cannot seem to get to the other side of that door!
Our world is wider now than it has ever been. There are so many more opportunities than we could of ever imagined. Did you know that back around (don't quote me on the year or the decade) the 1920's or so I heard that there was a huge controversy about closing up the U.S. Patent office. Our fore fathers thought that anything and everything that could possibly be invented was invented! They thought that their world was as perfect as it was ever going to get! Well, hello Space Shuttle & the Mars rover!
If you can imagine that our minds get so blocked with the "normalcy" than we would not be where we are now. The world and enterprises need fresh minds, someone that wants to make a career change can bring new thoughts to the work place because they are coming in with a completely different perspective. In the field I am in now, there are few changes and then you get blocked by the ones that have been there also for a thousand years and can't seem to take on new concept. It actually scares them to open that door and look at what is on the other side. The changes that we have made here in America is from the innovative thinkers, the ones who ventured outside that door. They are the ones laying the path for the rest to follow! So, why should some of us be afraid of a mid-life crisis, or excuse me, "a career change", you could be the next path maker.
Do not be afraid to venture outside the door, in the first decade of raising our families our career skills are limited to what we have to do to make ends meet, after the empty nest syndrome dissolves and you begin to wonder what else is out there we can put to use all of those event plannings we did for the birthdays, holidays, vacations etc. Include the "life experiences" on your resume, why not!
In my early years I did all the admistrative type work, mid life has been structured only in insurance, now I am expanding into the world of writing, photography and sales. I haven't quite found my niche, I'm still searching. Mid-life crisis or broadening my horizons? I prefer the latter.
Expand yourself, do not be afraid to look outside that door, step out, smell the fresh air. The next decade depends on you. What do you want to be when you grow up?