Change profession in adulthood. How?

Today, more and more people are thinking about changing their profession, in the words of Dante, “having passed their earthly path to half.” Forgetting about a boring office and getting creative, turning your favorite hobby into your main job is an old dream of many of us. But the older a person gets, the more difficult it is to decide on such a serious step. We talked to our experts about how to let go of your fears and start your career with a clean slate.

Why has the issue of career change become so urgent today? “Life has become better, life has become more fun” – the relative stability that has replaced the long economic and social crises has allowed many to stop thinking about every penny they earn and pay attention to what they really want in their professional lives.

“Now there is freedom of choice and, most importantly, a real labor market,” explains psychologist Elmira Davydova. – Those who entered universities 20-30 years ago, until recently, could not even think about changing their activities. A profession in Soviet times was chosen once and for all. And in the 90s, it seemed to everyone that the only way to survive was to work in a kiosk, so we chose more profitable directions. The humanities then seemed scary, because you can’t make money with their help, and simply no one went to the faculties of psychology and philology.

Today the situation has changed radically. “A huge number of adults come to me seeking to bring more creativity into their professional activities. Of course, creativity does not always mean composing poems or drawing pictures, says Elmira Davydova. – This is a kind of activity, about which you can say: “I did it myself.”

Thus, for the first time, many have the opportunity to realize their potential and even make a successful career in a new field. And along the way, the most unexpected turns can happen.

“Currently, there is a noticeable trend towards the so-called downshifting,” confirms existential psychotherapist Natalya Tumashkova. – When people who are fully established in their field at the age of 40-50 suddenly change their field of activity: big businessmen become captains of small boats and ride tourists along exotic routes, bankers go into journalism, lawyers into social work – in general, Diocletian leaves the imperial sinecure and going to plant cabbage.

However, not everyone is able to find the strength to disrupt the usual course of affairs. Some doubt the expediency of changing their profession, others are afraid of being left without funds – but still feel unhappy at work.

“A successful change of profession at any age makes a person more free, creative, happy. When you really do your thing, it is not a burden, says Elmira Davydova. “Therefore, any trials on the way to this state are worth it.”

1. Awareness

Experts identify very specific symptoms that the old job is no longer suitable for you. Elmira Davydova lists the main ones:

• during work you are constantly bored;
• you do not want to read special literature;
• it seems to you that in this area you have already achieved everything possible and there is nowhere to go further;
• you too often catch yourself thinking that at work you are thinking about abstract things;
• your health is deteriorating (in severe cases, neurosis and panic attacks occur);
• you don’t feel like going to work to the point where you want to cry.

Of course, these feelings can also be caused by severe fatigue. Therefore, before you quit your job and go on a free creative swim, try to experiment – go on a long vacation, creating all the conditions for yourself to have a good rest.

In addition, pay attention to relationships with colleagues and superiors – perhaps the problem is not in the profession as a whole, but in your place of work. And only if, after a rest and a change of team, your condition has not returned to normal, it is worth moving on to the next stage.

2. Deal with fears

The later the realization comes that it is time to change your life, the more difficult it is to take this step. For an already established professional in adulthood, the transition to beginner status can be extremely painful.

“For a long time I could not decide to return to medicine 25 years after graduation from the university,” Anna, 49, shares her experience. – I imagined how experienced doctors would look at me with irony, like a girl. Of course, I was worried that I would not be hired at that age! But all these fears turned out to be in vain – the main thing is to really want and achieve your goal.

“Any change always involves some uncertainty, which gives rise to anxiety,” Natalya Tumashkova comments. – Therefore, to begin with, admit to yourself that you are afraid, and try to understand: what are you most afraid of? Only the “named” fear can be correlated with reality, to see, “is the devil so terrible.”

How to deal with the fear of change?

• remember your successful experience of change – how you started something, did something for the first time, how scary it was at the beginning and what helped you cope with the task;
• collect positive examples from the life of friends and acquaintances;
• remember your relatives – a lot of changes fell to their lot, and they coped with them; look for inspiration by reading biographies of famous and successful people (for example, the book “Sailor in the Saddle” written by Irving Stone about the life of Jack London);
• remember that the most dangerous thing is “burnout” in the profession. Once you get to this stage of disgust with your own work, you can never go back to it.

“The only way to cope with your fears is not to chop the branch on which you are sitting with an ax,” says Elmira Davydova. – You need to act gradually, drop by drop: go to study at courses or do what you want to do as your hobby. Gradually absorb a new environment, make acquaintances, study specialized literature.

Indeed, in the process of learning a new business, it may turn out that this is not at all what we need.

3. Decide on a new profession

For some, this part of the journey may seem the easiest – finally, there is an opportunity to realize your childhood dreams, find a use for hidden talents, turn your favorite hobby into a life’s work. But for many, the question “where to go?” seems like an insurmountable obstacle. Then a career counselor can help you in your search for a new calling.

“In 60% of cases, my clients already have a specific topic or area that they are interested in. Then we have only to concretize the desire. In the remaining 40%, people learn something fundamentally new in my office,” says Elmira Davydova.

The main purpose of the career guidance methodology is to identify which profession suits this particular person. To do this, there are many different surveys and tests.

“I’m trying to understand how a person interacts with people, whether he likes to do something with his hands, to which he has inclinations,” continues Elmira Davydova. — You need to find the right object and the right action with this object. Each of us has a corridor of desires and a corridor of possibilities. And in the place where they intersect, a person finds his vocation.

Just for such a case, the psychologist has compiled a list of questions, by answering which you can find a new business of your life.

1. If you are bored at work, write down five reasons why you feel bored. Imagine that you are doing something exactly the opposite. Do you like it? What do you feel? Write down five qualities that should be characteristic of your work.

2. Write down on the sheet the professions that you know. Subtract: Subtract all professions you don’t like. From the rest, subtract those that are not available to you by age. From the remainder, subtract those that are interesting to you, but scary to start. Consider the rest.

3. Think about what you would do if you inherited a billion euros? Schedule your life for one year (twenty important things that you would do) after receiving this money. And what would you spend your time on if you no longer had to work for money?

4. Write what your parents programmed you for (about money, education, career, people around you).

5. Who are your real teachers (name three people who, albeit harshly, albeit involuntarily, taught you something in life).

6. Remember what feats you accomplished (in which you overcame yourself and circumstances). How has it changed you?

7. Remember your risky actions (physical risk, social, financial), what did it lead to and what did these situations teach you?

8. Who are your parents and parents of parents by profession? What did they do outstanding in their work?

9. Have you ever organized something or someone to do something? How did you feel in this capacity as an organizer? Or did you prefer to be an ordinary participant?

10 Remember your dreams, which symbolically speak to you about your dissatisfaction with life. Or those that show the way.