In this episode, I’m diving deep into what it’s really like to chase a new direction in life—especially for us women who might feel stuck in our current career paths. I’m sharing my personal journey, from dreaming about healthcare early on to the reality of running a business that no longer fills me up like it used to. Spoiler alert: I’m going back to school for a career in Radiation Therapy, and yeah, it’s scary. I talk about the fears—like failing, juggling finances, and wondering if I’m too old for this big change.

But here’s the thing: dreams don’t expire. I’m breaking down the societal expectations that hold us back and the pressures we face, especially when we hit our 40s and beyond. If you’ve ever thought about making a big pivot or embracing a new opportunity but felt like the world was telling you “no,” this one’s for you. We’re in this together—because change is possible at any stage of life.

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Music credit: Uppbeat https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/the-pop

Welcome to holistic productivity with Miranda Merten, the podcast for Gen X women that blends nostalgic nineties vibes with modern strategies to help you create solid routines, align your goals, and simplify your life. Get ready to make productivity personal, practical, and oh so powerful.

I want to know if you've ever thought that you just aren't where you should be in life. I've been wondering about this a lot lately, and during my summer hiatus, I was trying to plan what I would do with the podcast.

Spoiler alert, the last one ended. Coffee powered systems. If you want to know about that one, you can go listen to the last episode to find out how that one ended.

And then I decided to start this podcast and my business as a whole. I was thinking about where I wanted to go with it, and something hit me that this is not exactly what I want to do with the rest of my life.

While I do love helping other business owners get their lives together and their tech lives in order, sitting at home behind a computer is not it. It's not really where I want to be long term and for the rest of my life.

Many of you probably don't know that when I went to school, I graduated for exercise science and human physiology, and I always thought I would go into healthcare of some sort. But my 20 year old self back then was undecided and impatient.

And when I changed majors for the first time, I didn't want to stay in school any longer than I had to by changing it again or figuring out that I wanted to do something that was going to make me stay there a little longer.

For example, I thought about changing to an anesthesiologist at one point and realized that I would have to tack on an extra two years to go to school. And that was not in the cards for me at that time.

All my friends were graduating at the same time, and I wanted to graduate with them and move, you know, wherever we ended up. We ended up in Atlanta. I went to school at Florida State, but I did have a couple of friends.

We moved to Atlanta together, lived together, and so graduating later than people was not on my bucket list. It was not in the cards, and if I stayed longer, who knows? Who knows what would have happened? Do I regret it? Yes.

That is probably my biggest regret in life, was not taking the time to figure out exactly what I wanted to study and thinking that I could just figure it all out when I graduated. Because that didn't happen. I ended up just doing general business.

And instead of actually going into something that I was going to be truly interested in. So now, as my half birthday has just passed and 45 is right around the corner, I will be turning 45 in March. And I am halfway through life.

And I find myself wondering, what if I pivot? Now that's kind of scary, right? What kind of a concept is that?

45 years old, literally, if I am looking at my genealogy, my grandparents and my elders all live within their nineties, early to late nineties. So if I'm looking at it, I am actually halfway through my life. So can I even find another direction and start over at this point?

I have spent the last 20 or so years doing business, building up a business, building what I've got going now, teaching people how to do tech and helping people how to do tech. And I've had a yearning, especially as of late, to do more with my second half of life.

So something is pulling me back into healthcare, back into wanting to help people and wanting to do more. And I think I might actually take the leap.

So as women in our forties, we face a lot of crossroads, and some of us feel stuck in careers that we've outgrown. But what if the idea is really just terrifying? You know, maybe we stay because we're scared to leave.

And we've spent so much time doing this one thing and working on this one thing, that turning around and doing something completely different is just terrifying. And I can tell you, yes, it is terrifying. I have decided that I want to pursue a career in radiation therapy.

I know it sounds kind of random, but I do want to be involved in something that touches more lives and makes more of a difference. And I'm not going to be just sitting at home behind a computer anymore. I just don't want to do it. This doesn't light me up.

So as I am thinking about, am I really going to do this? All of these different thoughts come through my head. But here's the thing. I am scared. Yes.

And I want to talk about changes and pivots and if they're even realistic at my age. And maybe you're going through the same thing.

Maybe you've had a thought that you are either done with what you're doing, you're bored with what you're doing, the trajectory is not exactly what you wanted it to be, or maybe you're just wanting to switch it up. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes we just want to do something else.

We're only on this earth for a limited amount of time, and who's to say that we have to just do the one thing that we decided that we were going to do when we were 18 years old. Right. I have to go back to school for this career. I can't just take another online course and then slap some more credentials on my website.

I actually have to go back to school for this. And because of that, I do have a fear of failure. Number one, what if I can't do this? What if I'm just too old?

I have to go back and study physics, anatomy. Anatomy I actually do like, but it's a lot, there's a lot of moving parts to anatomy and physiology.

And, you know, I have to learn completely new concepts. There are things that I haven't learned in the little bit of coursework that I did have when I was initially a nursing major.

So I did take some nursing classes back in the day, but not enough to, you know, really get into something like this. And also, that was 20 years ago. So, yes, I have forgotten some things. And secondly, I have financial concerns.

So we're going to talk about the money aspect because let's face it, going back to school is not cheap and there are going to be sacrifices.

So that is a big concern of mine, partly because once you get into a certain part of the program, you know, you start going to clinicals, you're not going to be able to work as much, which is super scary.

So that means I actually will either have to take on more client work early on before I start or get a different job, maybe a side job that I can work nights and weekends.

Those are the things that I have to think about, and I have to think about if it is going to be worth it because I don't want to take on a whole bunch of student debt. Also, will I have to move? There's not very many of these programs. There's probably just one or two in each state.

And I have to think about will I have to move? Depending on which program I get into. Moving is expensive. It's more planning. You have to figure these things out.

And lastly, I have a fear of wasted time. Am I too late in the game?

What about the years that I've already spent building my career, the one I am in now, the one I have spent the last 15 to 20 years working towards and building up, and I've finally figured it all out and got it all set up to where it needs to be. And I just wonder about my growth from here. Will I be happy doing this for the rest of my life?

And what if I go back to school and then I quit halfway through or it doesn't work out, or what if, what if, what if, right? I have gone back, back and forth on whether or not this is a decision I want to make, whether I can tackle this head on.

And sometimes I can actually feel the heart palpitations going when I think about this stuff. And I go through all of the things that this is going to entail.

But what I've also realized about being older and further along in my career is that we have life experience and deeper understanding of what we want and what we don't want in our careers. And I've worked a lot up to this point in my life, and I'm ready to switch it up. There's nothing that says we can't switch it up at this point.

This is not the good old days where people got a job fresh out of when they were 13 years old or whatever age, and they worked at the same company until they were 90. We just don't do that anymore. And sometimes not only do we job hop, we also career hop. We're changing things up.

Now, I know that a lot of Gen Zers are in this mindset of doing many different things. We are not just one thing to be put in a bubble. We like doing different things.

Whether you're a musician or an artist, or you are financial or in it, you do have different parts of you that are worth nurturing. And we have the luxury to make these shifts when you want to or to be multifaceted. So why shouldn't we?

Ultimately, even though I have these fears and concerns, I am deciding to push forward. Because five years from now, I can either be in a fully new career with a new life trajectory. I'm going to be, like I said, I'm turning 45.

I'm going to be 50 anyways, right? So I can be 50 doing what I'm doing now, or I can be 50 and in a new life trajectory.

And if I'm still 50 doing what I'm doing now, I'm going to be wondering, what if? What if I did make that change five years ago? What would have happened to. And I don't want to be in that position.

I would be okay with trying to make the change and then it not working out. At least I would know that I went after it and it just wasn't feasible.

But if I didn't do it, then I would definitely be wondering what would have happened. So, switching to a healthcare role means that I'm going to be aligning my passion for helping others, which I am currently doing.

But it's going to be on different scale and a different level. And I'll be doing it in a really tangible way, hands on, face to face with people.

And I think I really do miss that aspect of being around people all day. Being able to hear people's stories and talk to them and see them and have that emotion and that face to face contact. I know it's going to be hard.

Yes, it will be hard. But doing hard things forces us to grow no matter what the outcome.

And I'm either going to succeed and be really happy that I took that chance or I'm going to fail. But at least I will have tried. And like I said, I won't have that lingering what if following me around for the rest of my life.

I also know, of course, that I have to be realistic as well. It's not going to be all rainbows and butterflies. I'll be going back to school. I have to learn new things. I have to study again.

Studying again after so many years is hard. Finding the time, especially after you are now in a different phase of life.

Back when we were in school and in college, literally, your job was to study unless you had another job. But now at this age, you have other responsibilities and different time management and personal commitments.

And I will have to juggle school and family and life and everything in between to kind of figure out a new way to work around my schedule. So I'm still figuring this one out. And to be honest, I don't know how I'll handle it until it happens. But again, I have to give it a shot.

Because if not now, then when? Dreams don't come with an expiration date. Julia Child didn't start her cooking career until she was 49.

Vera Wang was a figure skater and a journalist before she entered the fashion industry at 40 years old.

So I want to encourage you to reflect on your own dreams and passions, not only your why, but your why not, and reflect on something that you've always wanted to do but have been putting it off. Is it something you should pursue? Is it feasible? Would it make you happy? If you decide to go for it?

Write down one step that you can take this week toward exploring that dream. Because we are not defined by our past choices. We are defined by how we choose to move forward.

Until next time, keep it simple, keep it fun, and keep it productive. Next time on holistic productivity. Okay, really, I don't know what's happening next week, but come back and tune in. We'll figure it out together.