Care For A Career Change-Up? These Stories Are Proof It's Never Too Late

Midlife may be a good time to think about shifting your career.

That may run counter to the notion that, after building your career for several decades, you're at your peak. But according to Gallup, only a third of seasoned employees say they're engaged in their careers.

"You wake up one day and you say, 'I have all these things, what now?' Either you feel despair or boredom or loss, because you realize you're not as happy as you thought you'd be," says Beverly Jones, a career coach in Washington, D.C., in a Morning Edition piece by former NPR reporter Barbara Bradley Hagerty. The piece is part of her exploration of midlife on NPR and in her new book, Life Reimagined.

Some hit a midlife career rut, others lose their jobs in their middle years — and some, like Hagerty herself, who reexamined her career as a radio reporter after developing chronic pain in her vocal chords, have other reasons for rethinking their careers in their 40s and 50s. Career experts, Hagerty says, say when you do start this process, you should change your career within the boundaries of your natural talents, skills and personality — and they caution against "fantasies of reinvention."

NPR wants to know more about your midlife career shifts, so we put the question to Facebook, and the response was overwhelming, with more than 1,000 posts.

(Posts have been edited for spelling.)

Here's our callout for your midlife career shift stories. Head over to Facebook to keep the conversation going!

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