Starting Over After 50: How to Move Forward When Life Didn’t Go as Planned

Starting over after 50 can feel very different from starting over when you are younger.

By this stage of life, you may have spent decades working, raising a family, building businesses, earning degrees, paying bills, surviving disappointments, and trying to make responsible decisions. So when you look around and realize your life still does not look the way you expected, the question can be painful:

How am I starting over again?

I have asked myself that question too.

At 54, I have worked since I was 16. I have earned a bachelor’s degree, built businesses, raised a family, and continued my education. I have also experienced job loss, financial pressure, businesses that did not work the way I hoped, and seasons when I had to rethink what I wanted my future to look like.

One thing I am learning is that starting over does not automatically mean you failed.

Sometimes starting over means you finally have enough experience to recognize that something is no longer working.

You may know more about yourself now. You may understand what you are no longer willing to tolerate. Your priorities may have changed. Your faith may have deepened. And you may finally be asking better questions about the next 10 or 20 years of your life.

Starting again later in life is not starting from zero.

You are bringing your experience, skills, lessons, relationships, judgment, and wisdom with you.

The goal does not have to be reinventing your entire life overnight. Sometimes the next step is simply admitting that something needs to change and becoming willing to explore what comes next.

In Episode 1 of The Work Ahead with LaShondra, I talk more personally about job loss, financial pressure, entrepreneurship, starting again later in life, and why I no longer want the rest of my life to be about simply surviving work that drains me.

Listen to the full episode:
Starting Over After 50: When Life Doesn't Look Like You Expected

There is still work ahead.