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How I Reinvented My Life After 40
I started college in 1985. For you young ones: that was when MTV played music videos, shoulder pads weren’t just for football, and Aquanet was destroying the ozone. I majored in Music Education with a minor in English. After completing a Master’s degree and half a PhD, I had no choice but to enter the real world of work, and I became a teacher. It was a job that I kind of hated, then really loved, then could no longer do. During those 16 or so years, I taught grades kindergarten through 8, got married, had babies, gained weight, lost weight, and gained some again. At when I was 42, I no longer had a teaching career. I lived in a small town with no jobs in my field. I floundered, taking part time work as an administrative assistant and then voter registrar. Being middle-aged with no discernable career was a little scary. And a lot frustrating. And then my then-husband lost his job. We moved in with my parents.
Yes, I was 45 years old with two teenage children, and we moved in with my parents. It was humiliating and embarrassing and depressing. And it ended up being exactly what I needed.
You see, I didn’t need to figure out how to salvage an old career or make a few odds and ends work somehow…
