To feel like it's too late to start again.

[fruitstick]

I'm nearly 50.

I am clever, went to a good university and got a good degree. Then I had my dream career for 10 years until I had kids.

We moved away for a better house/life and that meant giving up my career (it was very London based).

I set up my own business which was great but if I'm honest I don't thrive at being self-employed and find it very lonely. I've also lost passion for the business anyway as lots about it has changed.

Health problems and the pandemic meant that the business pretty much collapsed and I've spent the last few years trying to get back to where I was but my heart's not in it.

I want to do something else but don't actually feel like I have any skills (I know this isn't true).

I have so many friends who stuck with their careers, or retrained in the 30s/early 40s.

I feel like I've wasted my brain and my skills.

I would love to study and do something meaningful.

Please give me your tales of starting your career again at 50, and what it was.

And yes as someone’s said earlier many of these jobs are NHS/ LA where they actually value life experience

What @shirlm said - come join the world of Occupational Therapy, so much scope and variety, and life experience is a big plus.

I'm in my early forties with 3 kids and I am due to start medical school this year after deferring for 2 years to have my last baby. I won't be fully qualified until late forties, let alone any specialist training after that. Its going to be extremely tough and I'm sure there will be times that I struggle and wonder what on earth I'm doing but I'm so excited to finally be doing something I've ALWAYS wanted to do. I've had several careers already but haven't felt terribly challenged or ignited by any of them really. I could coast along for another how many years in my current (NHS) field or try to find a bit more fulfilment in a job I'll still likely be doing for 20 years or so! Go for it, I say!

When I was 50 I thought similarly.

In retrospect I would have upgraded my skills as in Occupational Therapy. There’s an MSc.

This is all great inspiration- thank you.

I'm only 42, but I've been through similar to you - I moved away to be able to afford to live, I'm working from home because of an embarrassing medical condition, and I feel lonely - I'm very far away from family and friends, I don't know anyone where I am now, the job isn't paying well and can be stressful dealing with customers. I'd like to walk away and do something else.

I think, for both of us, we need to work out what means the most to us and look into every effort to be able to do exactly that. YouTube has tutorials, Google can help a lot, you seem a lot like me - answers aren't always apparent, it can be difficult to find an answer when your mind is clouded. Sometimes search engines don't find what we're looking for until you word what you want differently.

You seem very brave and intelligent, based on your statement you'd like to study - you're not the kind so easily defeated into believing that you can't do what you want or need to do. That is a very good sign :)

We're not done, even if the world says we are - we can prove the world wrong!