Career Change – 5 Signs That it May Be More Than Just A Midlife Crisis
Fancy sports cars. Expensive gym memberships. Messy divorces. A midlife crisis usually gets a bad rap for impulsive decisions like these. But one of the controversial midlife crisis decisions is that of making a career change in the prime of life, or later. Nothing feels more liberating yet risky in the moment than abandoning a job you’ve responsibly held for years, if not decades, for something completely new and different.
While the naysayers will say that it’s all well and good until you lose your health insurance coverage, the truth is that a career change late in life can be more than just an impulse – in fact, it could lead to a real breakthrough in your happiness.
Here’s five signs that a career change later in life won’t be a Hollywood cliché for you, but perhaps the best decision of your life.
You Bring Your Negative Work Attitude Home With You
One of the typical midlife frustrations center around intimacy issues. Yes, this can mean problems in the bedroom, but it can also mean struggling to have a meaningful conversation with your partner or spouse. This problem can even extend to children, as you try to remain relevant in their lives.
Instead of this being a problem of age, it could actually be a problem of career choice. The attitude you carry in your work life do spill over into home life, no matter how hard you try to separate them. If you find yourself stressed out, anxious, or depressed while at work, chances are good that it’s showing up when you return to your family.
This is a case where a career change isn’t a knee-jerk reaction but what you need to find balance and harmony at home.
Someone Else Decided Your Career For You
Your parents don’t just influence your beliefs about the world. They can also literally set the career path that you choose to take. Maybe your father ran his own small business, and the business world felt like the only viable career option. Maybe both of your parents worked in the same career, doubling the chances of you following in their footsteps.
Whatever it is, that influence can be hard to shake. You may not have even realized you chose that career path because of your parents until just now. That’s just how subconscious some of these major life decisions can become.
The good news is that it’s never too late to take that step of personal freedom. In this instance, a career change could mean you finally coming out of the shadow of outside expectations.
A Career Change Has Always Been Your Secret Passion
We all have at least one secret dream in life. It’s the one thing we won’t tell our co-worker friends, spouse, or children. Yet we carry that dream around in our minds like it’s a piece of precious jewelry, extremely fragile and liable to break at any criticism.
If that secret dream involves a career other than the one you have, this is a sign that a new type of job is much more than a midlife refresh. A career change could finally mean giving yourself permission to have the life you always secretly believed you deserved.
When People Ask You “How’s Work?”, You Say…
According to a CNBC/Survey Monkey Happiness Index, 85% of people are at least somewhat satisfied with their jobs. The problem? About 30% of the incoming workforce will change jobs every 12 months, and change careers five to seven times.
There seems to be a disconnect there. How happy can you be about a job or career if you want a new one so many times? It ultimately comes down to the difference between what we say and what we mean.
If you find yourself putting on a good face when asked about your job but inside know that you’re telling a lie (or at least not the whole truth), then a career change could be a fundamental desire of yours.
This is also about the time in your life when your kids are becoming adults of their own. They look to you as an example, and part of a midlife crisis can be falling under that pressure.
Don’t you want to be able to look someone in the eye and say you what actually mean about the work you do?
That’s what the power of a career change.
You’ve Been Looking For Happiness A Lot Longer Than Just Now
If the type of deep reflection and desire to improve your job situation usually reserved for middle age has been hanging with you for months or years now, then you’re looking for something much deeper than a momentary buzz.
The longer you yearn for something more in life, and the longer you wait to get it, the harder it can be to actually believe you deserve it.
There is a way to turn it around though. A career change could be the start, but there’s something more fundamental you can do at the same time. It is a simple daily, three-step process called the Deserving Process. It is the result of proven, observational studies around people throughout the world who found true lasting happiness – and what made the switch.
“You Deserve It: The Missing Answer To The Life You Want” outlines the exact steps of The Deserving Process and provides online access to the free audio download of The Deserving Process too.
Remember – you don’t have the life you deserve, you have the life you believe you deserve.
This guest post was authored by Josh Wagner
DR. JOSH WAGNER is a mindset coach, international speaker and consultant to renowned doctors and their staffs around the world. After building a successful private practice in New York City, Dr. Wagner began to shift his focus to help others achieve their goals to have richer and better lives through his revolutionary Deserving Process.
He has traveled the world helping people in over 18 countries transform personally and professionally. Dr. Wagner’s purpose is that the more people experience joy and peace of mind in their lives, the better they will influence their families, communities and the world.
To learn more about Dr. Josh Wagner, please visit www.drjoshwagner.com.
