Has the return to work made you sigh (deeply) and wonder:
- How much longer can I do this?
- Is this all there is between now and retirement?
- Do I really want to work as hard / long as I did last year?
- Is it time for a change, or even a pivot?
Before you fall back into the groove of everyday life, why not take a moment to double check you are still doing the right think for you and your loved ones?
My award-winning research explored midlife career reinvention, also known as pivoting. One of the interesting things about pivoting in midlife is that people think they have a choice – to pivot or not – but in reality, you are pivoting anyway, by accident or by design.
During times of uncertainty, people are even more inclined to hunker down and try to maintain their position. What they forget is that others are moving around them—skills are changing, technology is developing, people are joining and leaving the workforce, processes and systems are improving. Your work could disappear. Then what?
You could sleepwalk into your future, but it may not serve you well. Evidence shows that people who pay attention to what is going on for them emotionally can adapt better to changing circumstances. People who act in ways that are consistent with their values are less stressed. People who really know their meaning and purpose are happier, healthier, more fulfilled.
You might not fundamentally change your job, but you will need to change something.
Navigating mid-life well can significantly improve your future health, wealth, and happiness. Poor choices lay the trail for issues later. Stress that you experience now can speed up mental aging. The stakes are high, but so are the rewards.
You will have experienced pivot points before, such as when you left education or got your own home. These stages are undoubtedly challenging, but it’s the multidirectional nature of mid-life that makes it unique. No wonder you can feel dizzy, confused or overwhelmed.
Pivoting well involves accepting some things and shifting others. Accepting you will die and that your legacy, good and bad, will live on beyond you. Occupying a different place in the world will shift your sense of identity, who you are and whom you will become.
Pivots are all around you—a playground seesaw, a spreadsheet pivot table, a pivot in dance, a musical pivot. They all have one thing in common, a pivotal point to turn or balance around. The seesaw fulcrum, the spreadsheet filter, the standing leg in dance, or the shared chord in music.
Mid-life is a dance—a dance with fear and confidence. Pivoting in dance begins with a stable core and a strong standing leg – and mid-life dancing is the same.
laura walker
Re-evaluating and reorienting your life needs you to pay attention. To become more of yourself, you need to get to know yourself differently.
- Who am I now? Who am I not?
- What really matters to me? What doesn’t?
- What am I good at?
- What am I passionate about?
- How can I be more of my best self?
By taking time to dis-cover who you are and what matters most – your sense of identity, values, sources of meaning – you are stabilising your core. By deepening your self-knowing – your strengths, your preferences, your emotions – you are strengthening your standing leg.
By preparing to dance in this way, you are more able to pivot in a way that suits you – as you are now, not how you used to be. You are giving yourself more balance, more control, more choice.
By investing some time and attention into stabilising your core and strengthening your standing leg, you are much more likely to pivot successfully – and avoiding falling flat on your face!
To learn more, please check out my book: Dancing with fear and confidence: How to liberate yourself and your career in midlife – available now:
https://amzn.to/3mdQqIq (Amazon.co.uk)
https://amzn.to/3okD6E1 (Amazon.com)
Further reading
An, J.S., and Cooney, T.M. Psychological well-being in mid to late life: The role of generativity development and parent–child relationships across the lifespan. International Journal of Behavioral Development. 2006; 30:410–421.
Holden, Robert (2009) Be Happy. Hay House.
Lachman et al., (2015). Midlife as a Pivotal Period in the Life Course: Balancing Growth and Decline at the Crossroads of Youth and Old Age. Int J Behav Dev. 2015 Jan 1; 39(1): 20–31.
Strenger, C. (2009). Paring down life to the essentials: An epicurean psychodynamics of midlife changes. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 26(3), 246–258.
Walker, L. (2020) Dancing with fear and confidence: How to liberate yourself and your career in mid-life. MPowr Publishing.
Fulfilling work 