You don't have to make a rupture/completely change course
I'm sure this is admirable, and people deciding to take their roads previously untaken even if they are no longer youthful is entirely excellent -
A stunning second act! Meet the people who changed course in midlife - and loved it.
But, I am just a bit, well, isn't this a bit like those people who throw up a steady job to 'follow the dream', and okay, in these particular instances it was a success. They do seem to have been going sensible routes and undertaking further education and relevant training. Also, perhaps, in a position where they could afford a degree of, perhaps temporary, downshifting
But, there is the subtext that to Change Your Life, as instructed by a statue of the God Apollo (as Rilke was, I think?), you have to turn everything around.
Rather than, you know, making certain alterations to the existing fabric.
Which was how my MidLife Course Change happened, by incorporating doing a PhD part-time into my life (and okay, I will concede that I was in a good situation for doing that and not everyone is that fortunate) which eventually developed into a secondary career.
I had never intended moving out of archives - I have mentioned people asking me when I was going to become a 'proper academic' (with all the woes that brings...) but that was never the goal.
Though I think that a here-and-now problem is that things that people do above and beyond their primary occupation are getting framed into 'side-hustles' rather than personal pleasure and enrichment.
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