Why I'm Proudly Returning to School and Career Shifting at 54

  Middle-aged momma milestones

Image: Created by Marilyn Glover with Canva Design

I never finished college, and I often regret it, but all of that is about to change. At 54, I'm proudly returning to school. As a middle-aged woman whose children are grown, now is the ideal time to embrace the second half of life with a go-and-get-it attitude.

Like other teens fresh out of high school, college in the fall was on the agenda. I enrolled in a local community college with my parents' help and chose Respiratory Therapy as my field of study. Classes began; I was moderately optimistic, but my heart wasn't all in. What I actually wanted to study was art, but my parents didn't foresee a future career. Stability, a solid future for myself; these were the aspects they were interested in, especially since they were paying for my education.

After the first semester and poor grades, I left school. Not long after, I left home.

Eighteen and on my own in the world, I thought I knew it all. I didn't. I became a young mother, got married, had another child, and life as I knew it would never be the same.

I left my husband; years passed; two more children, another failed relationship, and college was the furthest thing from my mind. I was a single mother raising four kids, and stability meant working full-time in the hotel industry while receiving public assistance.

While I liked hospitality and moved up the ranks from cleaner to management, a part of me always wondered, "What if someday I do something else?"

Someday is here.

Mindset shift

After twenty years dedicated to serving travelers, my hospitality career is over. A workplace accident last year resulted in knee surgery, and my days of running around a hotel are finished. As a six-year online content creator and editor (something I picked up while displaced during COVID), I began thinking about all the transferable skills I have—there are many. 

Then, I thought about all the reasons I love writing and how they relate to hospitality.

• Communication
• Empathy
• Problem solver

I looked back on my finest career moments and how I felt.
I look at my writing and how it makes me feel.

Further reflection and cross-referencing gave me a better picture. I found the key takeaway, the big IT in the equation: I thoroughly enjoy helping people, and I like getting down to the nitty-gritty. 

Writing does this for me; it's my way of working it all out personally, especially through poetry, but it's also how I help others. And it brings me so much joy.

But a career poet?

Doesn't this go back to the beginning when I mentioned my parents' feelings about art?
Isn't this just a lofty dream?
Irresponsible?

Yes, I am pursuing writing; I've published a poetry book, and there is more to come, but returning to school, furthering my education, entails taking a piece of "writing" and adding it to a focused career, one that interests me and one I know I will do well in.

Marketing & Communication.

This is what I will study: marketing & communication
Goal: Associate's degree

For me, this combination is hospitality and writing at its finest.

I am building on what I already know and furthering my education to position myself for roles in business support, public relations, SEO, media marketing, and related fields.

Art & business focused on serving others.

Milestone mama

Middle age doesn't mean life is half over; it's the mark of evolution, the hat-tipping moment when we fondly bid our younger selves adieu and greet the next phase of life with determination and excitement.

At 18, I thought 50-something sounded past one's prime, like by then all of one's goals should be complete. I dreaded the idea, honestly, and the barely adult version of myself couldn't grasp college, never mind what life might be like over the next three decades.

I was young. Naive. Inexperienced.

Sure, it's been a long haul: raising children as a single parent, struggling with finances, learning along the way.

But isn't that what life is all about: learning?
There's no manual, no set of instructions, no PowerPoint presentation guide.

And if life is all about continuously learning and evolving, then why not go back to school? Age needn't matter.

I figure I am an official graduate of the school of hard knocks; I can only imagine all that I will achieve with a certificate of completion, an Associate's degree to set me up for this highly anticipated next phase of life.

Yes, I am excited, and I want others to get excited too.

I am notorious for turning lemons into lemonade, and this mama (and grandma) aims to keep the juice moving!

What about you?

Are you a mid-life mindshifter seeking a career change?
Are you stuck in the what-to-do-next 50-something stage?

Sit with it. Get crystal clear on what is important to you, what you love to do, and all the transferable life skills you have to offer. I'll bet there's a mile-long list of talents, positive attributes, lived-in & learned experiences just waiting to help forge your way into the next phase of life.

Reflect. Ruminate. Redirect.

Go after your dreams, knowing you are leveling up, not finally fixing all the things you failed.

54 and back to school, that's me. No scorekeeping here. Just a healthy focus on gratitude, grades, and graduation.

If you are interested in my lyrical art, check out my Jungian-themed poetry chapbook available now on Amazon

Rather give it a listen first?

Listen to my poetry podcast on Substack FREE: New episodes every Wednesday.