I recently hit a major career milestone which was celebrated by colleagues and friends as a great achievement. I had worked for the same company for 25 years and there I was in modern working times on Teams with other people around the world looking at a not so flattering photo of myself getting positive comments from my manager, the company CEO for what for most should have been a joyous celebrated occasion.

Well for most this was a time to celebrate but there was one person who was far from happy and actually looked at this milestone as a time of reflection asking a question of where did it all go wrong? Why do I feel completely stuck and lost?

Well if you haven’t worked it out yet that person is me. Now don’t get me wrong I am not saying that 25 years is a complete waste of time and I have been on the edge for most of it. In fact the truth is that I have gained many valuable experiences on the way and have travelled the world. I have met a number of amazing people and found that I work well with other people and have a skill in helping them develop and grow. Crazy thing is I think I am good at doing this for others but not so great when it comes to myself.

If I am honest I have been down this road before…. I need to change, I need to do something different, time is running out……and so on, and so on.

Truth is I was never ready to change and I was stuck, happy to stay in my well built comfort zone. I was too scared to change, I admit it 25 years with a paycheck at the end of the month, roof over my head and food on the table was the only thing that mattered. Though having these things is still important does it mean that I can’t do something that gives me more fulfilment going forward?

So how did I get here? Well the idea is to change which lets be honest can be a scary thing but I really don’t think it has to be. I have been listening to advice and reading a lot lately to try and give myself ideas of how to really start making a meaningful change.

The idea is to start small and prove that I can do things differently. In my research two things came up as a starting point and these were to create a network and also write a blog about something you are passionate about.

I have been back and forth on the idea of the blog subject but then it dawned on me to write about the reason I got here in the first place and to write about my starting journey to change my career in my midlife.

This is something I will be starting off as a weekly blog at the weekends and will be going through the stages and challenges of trying to make a change at this stage of my working life. I have only really ever known one company for the vast majority of my career and don’t really know anything different.

YES ITS SCARY!!!! 🙂 However it has to be done and the first real change is this Blog!

Now the idea is that I do this and get out of my concrete purpose built comfort zone and do something different. If you are reading this then it has all been worth it and the road has started.

Its funny how you can always think that it’s just me in this situation but I am pretty sure there are lots of others in the same boat and have the same dilemma. I talked about doing something your passionate about earlier and I mentioned that I like to help others. Well starting this blog hopefully will help & support others who need that push and to create a supportive group for anybody who needs it.

Of course I sit here and also think maybe nobody will ever read this but at least I did it, I wrote it myself and didn’t use the AI……… (Well OK some of the dodgy pictures were AI because I have zero artistic skills).

No but seriously nobody reading this would be a disaster so lets look for at least 3 people because apparently this is still a crowd 😁

Well the journey has started. I have posted, I have done something new and started a change. Lets see where it takes us.

See you in the next post

GME