Thinking About Changing Your Life? New Book Tells The Stories Of Other Who Did

A new book tells the stories of over forty people who undertook "midlife reinvention." That phrase is suggested by Susan Crandell, author of "Thinking About Tomorrow: Reinventing Yourself at Midlife." In it she describes what it takes to significantly change your life's direction.

(read more at Amazon)

Crandell says this isn't a minor sociological shift -- she told the Baltimore Sun that midlife transformation "is the first big social revolution of the 21st century."

The growth of second careers is certainly at the forefront of that change. In the first chapter (available online) Crandell puts forth one reason -- poor planning:

... it may seem surprising that at midlife so many of us are dumping career number one and moving on to career number two. Of course, some of this migration can be credited to restlessness: Even in a fulfilling profession, twenty years on the job can ignite a craving for something new. But many of the career changers I’ve spoken with tell me that their first profession simply never thrilled them.

Problem was, back in our twenties when we were starting out, a lot of us just didn’t know how to find work that works for us.

Were twenty year olds thirty years ago any worse at finding the perfect career than twenty year olds today? Probably not, but the what's changed is that thirty years ago, people in the middle of their life would just gut it out. Subsequent generations, less haunted by the deprivation of the Depression and war, are more willing to take chances.

In an interview with MSNBC, Crandell offered some advice to midlife career changers:

• Take small steps
• Do your research
• Form a support group
• Embrace your fear
• Follow your confidence

(for the full text, where she fleshes out all these points, visit MSNBC here)

Elsewhere, Crandell has also recommended other books to people asking "what do I want to do now that I'm grown up?"

Suzanne Braun Levine wrote thoughtful, insightful articles for us when I was at More; her book, Inventing the Rest of Our Lives, is just as helpful and smart. Another contributor to More, Mary Lou Quinlan, tells one of my favorite reinvention stories in her memoir/guide, Time Off For Good Behavior.

If you're thinking about where to go from the middle of your life, Crandell's book and these other links could be good starting points.

"Thinking About Tomorrow" covers more than just midlife career change: it's meant to be a guide to a more fulfilling life, and so also covers midlife improvements to family relationships, health, and more.

Crandell, founding editor of More magazine, maintains a blog and also collects reader's stories for future books.

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Update: Read our interview with Susan Crandell here!