| For more than twenty-years, Carla's primary focus | | | | ignored. Both are an accepted call to action. Changing |
| was working her way up the corporate ladder in the | | | | your job, career, or lifestyle may take some work. |
| Human Resources department of a large publicly | | | | But if you truly follow your passion, the effort will |
| traded company. Day after day she worked hard to | | | | provide infinitely positive results.Are you ready to |
| meet the demands of her superiors and colleagues, | | | | make a change? Here are a few tips for getting |
| until one morning she woke up with a sickened, | | | | started on a successful second career.Make a list of |
| sinking feeling in her stomach.It was her career, she | | | | the things missing in your lifeDo you long to revive a |
| realized. Having spent nearly half of her life working in | | | | passion from your youth that you never found time |
| an unsatisfying job, with few genuine | | | | to pursue? Is it music, a sport, writing, cooking, |
| accomplishments and the goals of her youth long | | | | entrepreneurship? It doesn't matter what, as long as |
| forgotten, Carla had hit midlife and she didn't like it. | | | | it's something you truly have a desire to do. If you've |
| To alleviate the feeling in her stomach, Carla began | | | | already got a clear picture of the passions you'd like |
| making a conscious effort to pay more attention to | | | | to pursue, then identify small, achievable ways you |
| the gap between the reality of her life and the | | | | can start incorporating them into your life.Imagine |
| dreams and passions she once had. She was | | | | that you already have one million dollars in the |
| determined to pounce on her one last chance for a | | | | bankHow would you spend your time each day? |
| career that could make the second half of her life | | | | Think of the environment you'd like to be in, the |
| more meaningful and fulfilling.In 2004, Carla decided to | | | | people you'd want to know, and how you would |
| nourish her passion to serve the elderly and today, is | | | | relate to them. What activities would you engage in? |
| the owner and operator of an adult day care facility | | | | Chances are your passions come to the surface |
| in Houston, Texas. She is now planning her next | | | | when you play-out your "winning the lottery" |
| venture-an assisted living program for low-income | | | | fantasies. Although we're not all destined to be |
| elderly residents.Is Carla's story unusual? According to | | | | millionaires, that shouldn't hold you back from |
| a study reported in Prevention Magazine, not in the | | | | following your desires and placing more value in |
| slightest; "79% of baby boomers will expect to work | | | | yourself, regardless of your bank account |
| at least part-time well into their golden years," the | | | | balance.Tap into your wisdom and experience to |
| study has revealed. "A growing number of adults are | | | | re-evaluate your current careerAsk yourself what's |
| looking at their 40s, 50s, and 60s as the right time to | | | | not working and what you want to change. Use this |
| start fresh in an entirely new field." What drives | | | | time to reflect on your life. Are there any passions or |
| adults to change their careers? The answer, in a | | | | dreams that you abandoned in your youth? If you |
| word, is midlife.Craving a more fulfilling and meaningful | | | | don't know what you want to do, try volunteering as |
| career is just one area of focus during midlife | | | | a way to develop new interests. Find a way to live |
| adjustment. As adults reach midlife, at a time when | | | | your passion everyday. I once heard someone say, |
| parents and older relatives begin to die, the realization | | | | "You don't get what you want out of life, but what |
| that their lives, too, will come to an end begins to hit | | | | you believe."Understand your passion, but also where |
| home. Suddenly the importance of achieving goals | | | | your strengths lieIt's critical to take an inventory of |
| and doing what makes us happy becomes much | | | | your life and to determine what is really important. |
| more important. This is the time closet authors, | | | | Make a list of the things you are passionate about, |
| entrepreneurs, musicians or artists will begin thinking | | | | and then narrow the list to items that present an |
| about careers to match their energy, vitality, and | | | | opportunity to generate income. If you're not |
| passion for life.The life cycle is, for most of us, fairly | | | | pursuing your passion, what's in the way? What do |
| predictable. From adolescence to age 30, most of us | | | | you need to do to move forward with pursuing your |
| are consumed with learning how to become who we | | | | plan?Keep your day jobYou don't have to quit your |
| think we want to be. We go from our 30s to our | | | | day job to focus on your passion. It's not an all or |
| 40s working and living that role. But at age 40, | | | | nothing proposition. I meet people all the time who |
| midlife, after having reached this goal, many discover | | | | say they're working full-time and pursuing their |
| it wasn't what we wanted to do after all. At this | | | | dreams on the side, in their free time. You may still |
| midlife point, after having worked so hard only to find | | | | need to earn a living while you transition onto your |
| ourselves wanting, many are willing to take on the | | | | new path. This is true whether you're planning to |
| challenge of more risk and freeing ourselves from the | | | | start a business or preparing to establish a new |
| burden of other's expectations.Longer life expectancy | | | | career.Start right nowOver the next 30 days; make a |
| plays a part, too. At midlife, says Deborah Carr, | | | | commitment to yourself to identify one thing you |
| sociology professor at Rutgers University, people | | | | can do to begin pursuing your passion-and start doing |
| realize they still have nearly half a lifetime yet to live | | | | it! Research ways to integrate your passion with your |
| and wonder how they will spend those years. "They | | | | current obligations and take those first steps into |
| know they're going to have lots of healthy years, so | | | | your second career with achievable goals. You'll soon |
| I think it's a period of making choices to live out | | | | discover that living and working your passion is being |
| one's dreams that got put on the shelf during | | | | in control of your own life.Diane Randall is a Certified |
| younger years."Women are well represented in this | | | | Wellness Coach who works primarily with adults over |
| mindset, with more women than ever using their | | | | 30 to help them reclaim their zest and drive for life. |
| midlife as a springboard to experience positive career | | | | Randall began her wellness journey over fifteen |
| transformations. They want a career that matches | | | | years ago when an unexplained health crisis forced |
| their energy and allows them to be successful as | | | | her to adopt a better way of living, and has since |
| individuals. More and more often you will find women | | | | used her education and experiences to help countless |
| starting businesses, gaining respect, and finding | | | | others. Randall speaks and writes about a variety of |
| purpose in their midlife.The lesson we can take for | | | | health and wellness related topics affecting the adult |
| Carla's story is that midlife should not be feared, and | | | | community. |
| that the sinking feeling in your stomach should not be | | | | |