Career change at mid-life...what was I thinking?

Boy! What a surprising journey this decision is turning out to be! After raising my children, then pounding the highway for corporate America I decided to return to school, get my Masters, then finish my working life doing stuff "that matters".

Not that raising my children or helping horses owners with their feeding decisions don't matter, it's just my dream was to help all of humanity, all of God's creatures, you know....the planet.

Big goal huh? Yeah, it is. But those that know me will testify that big challenges have never phased me. I have tackled bigger obstacles than grad school, dealing with joblessness in a tough economy, starting a company or writing a children's book!

Bring it on!!

What it appears that I forgot about was how OLD I am! And with this mid life (I hope) chronological reminder I am forced to face what that means.

Whether a mid-life career change is prompted by burn-out, facing your mortality, a life changing experience or necessity, it still offers brick walls that must be overcome that are unique to this stage in life. Like dealing with having limited energy for the first time in my life. Coupled with normal mid-life health woes. The fact that my children, and now my grandchildren and aging parents still need my time. The frustrating awareness of my lack of a necessary mastery of modern marketing tools like social media outlets. And the glaring absence of a network of contacts in my new field of work which is what a new company or business depends upon to grow.

Mark Twain said " All you need is ignorance and confidence and success is sure". And therein creates the problem with middle age career change. At mid-life we lack the ignorance of youth. We know a lot about a lot of stuff. We know better. We are wise.

The ignorance and naivety and energy of my youth powered me through several adventures that, if I had known then what I know now, I would have never done. And that's a good thing because I would have never owned a boarding and training horse farm, a really cool nature store, a wholesale t-shirt company, helped build a national retail chain, or learned the real way that horse feed is made and how to use it.

I learned something from every one of these experiences. I learned to organize my time, how to promote, buy, sell, teach, educate, learn, loose, recover. I learned the most valuable lesson of all, the one that will get me through all the unique-to-mid-life brick walls I now face....never, ever, give up.

I truly believe that everything I have done so far has led to me where I am today. Each misstep, each relationship, each business, job and mistake have prepared me to for this next journey. The journey of following my bliss....hello Happy Horse Healthy Planet and Horse Hippie!

~Laura

Me

“Saving the Planet One Horse At A Time”™