5 Ways to Reinvent Your Career

​And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom - Anais Nin

Today’s midlife women came of age during an era where women were told they could have it all; family, career, and fulfilling life where they could shape their destiny and choose their path. 

Many women chose to work. Others worked out of necessity, decided to work at home, or returned to work when children were school-aged. For decades women balanced work and life, leaned in, advanced in careers, and entered their 50s thinking it would be their time. 

Midlife is a time of transition. Children are leaving the nest, careers are peaking, and there is more time to focus on what is essential. It is a life stage when men are at the peak of their careers and earning potential. However, what women encounter is a society that expects us to remain ageless. We experience gender ageism in the workplace. Regardless of our prior accomplishments, we face a society that finds countless subtle ways to tell us we’re not as relevant, not as attractive, and less deserving.

It’s natural and normal to feel unsettled with a desire to explore what’s next. These internal rumblings can also come with inner self-doubt and negative self-talk — “I’m too old,” “I don’t look like I should,” “I’m not seen or heard.” Many midlife women feel stuck even though we have decades left to work, live well,  and flourish. 

Women also describe lacking authentic and deep connection with other women, feeling burned out, exhausted, and disappointed at a time that is supposed to be the pinnacle of their lives.

Women have been trying to live up to an unrealistic standard for too long, and as a result, they feel they’re climbing a mountain but never reaching the top. Sound familiar? The good news is that you can define what will come next. You don’t have to succumb to societal norms of acceptable and how we should age. If the original path no longer contributes to how you want to live your lives, it’s time to find a new one. 

We’ve spent the last year speaking with amazing midlife women who felt that same rumbling and have reimagined their lives and reinvented themselves to design a path for themselves that is more aligned with their values. They’ve reinvigorated their careers, built businesses, or taken risks to create a life to live well and flourish. 

Read their advice and listen to your inner RUMBLING. You can take steps to align your career with your values to flourish through midlife.

Define your universal skills. You have learned many things from your prior roles as mother, sister, daughter, aunt, caretaker, homemaker, and career woman that you bring to the table. You’ve balanced many demanding tasks and been successful at them. For example, women have a unique ability to context switch. It means you can switch between multiple unrelated tasks and improvise as you do it. 

You have superb negotiation skills from your personal, volunteer, and professional lives that you can use in any situation. You have negotiated salaries, employee engagement, bedtimes for a 3-year-old, rules for teenagers, daily living capabilities with aging parents, and everything in between.

You are resilient. You’ve successfully navigated every challenge that has come your way. You know your strengths, and you’ve learned how to either overcome, mitigate, or ask for assistance in areas of weakness. 

Write down the skills you possess that are universal to any situation and how you can use them. Ask friends and family what they think your strengths are and add them to your list.

Choose your core values and purpose over societal pressure. Consider what is most important to you. What are your core beliefs? What are your values? What is most important to you in the future? 

Have those values and beliefs been aligned with your decision-making? For example, have you made career or life choices that are in line with your values and best interests, or have you made sacrifices to put the interests of others first? 

Answering these questions provides an opportunity to be thoughtful and intentional about your importance. For many women, it can be about supporting and empowering others. It can be about giving back to the community and making a difference in the lives of others. 

It’s difficult for many women to focus on putting themselves first and discount any societal norms, but it’s crucial for finding meaningful work. If this is a challenge, ask yourself what matters more than money. Those are your values. 

Dream and design your path. Consider the course that keeps you closest to your integrity, values, and goals for your life and the future. 

What are the ways you can start to move towards that? It could be making changes to your current role, seeking new employment or career, taking on a side job, or volunteering. Where can you find other like-minded people with similar interests or who you can learn from? 

Networking and establishing connections with people you don’t know well is another universal skill that women possess. It is a great place to use those skills to meet new people and hone what unique gifts you have to offer. 

We have been amazed at how willingly other women have been to spend time with other women to share ideas, knowledge and magnify the voices of other women as they endeavor to design a new path.

Living from the inside out creates a foundation of health. It takes a foundation of good health to flourish after 50. Make your health a priority. It will support your self-confidence and help you feel connected while living genuinely from the inside out. 

It’s never too late to pivot. The science around aging and lifespan is evolving. We have been amazed and inspired by all of the remarkable women we’ve met who are continually learning, growing, and changing. 

Today, women who accomplish great things are more frequently in midlife and beyond. Fear is part of the equation, but courage is the calling to find clarity and purpose, and that belief is vital in the women we’ve worked with. 

You are not alone in what you’re feeling or experiencing. 

Women want to support other women in achieving their dreams. If the women in your life don’t support your dreams, seek out those who do. 

Striving to discover your remarkable and fulfilling midlife journey ensures your process will foster purpose, belonging, joy, and gratitude. It feels good!

Embracing and stepping in the beauty, liberation, and wisdom as you move into and beyond midlife empowers other women, young and older, to do the same. By tapping into your knowledge, experience, and wisdom, you engage with others differently and bring value to the people around you. 

Together we can change the way our culture views midlife and older women. We’re excited about midlife, the new things we’ll do, the risks we’ll take, and the women we’ll meet! 

Let’s reinvent, reignite, and RUMBLE through midlife together!

10 Ways to Empower Women Right Now

Saeteesh from @saeteeshunleashed and Jennifer Cermak from @naninalubeachwear shared personal advice and stories to empower other women at our Fashion After 50 Fashion Week MN Event. Photo credit: G. Marie Images

Have you ever asked yourself, “What is one small thing I can do to start a revolution?” Jane Finette did just that during the pandemic. She felt down and overwhelmed, so she started connecting with other strong women in her network to find out how they were coping and what they were doing. Although the media headlines were dismal, she discovered empowered women doing fantastic work to support the advancement of women and girls, and their efforts did not stop during these stressful and unprecedented times. 

Talking to other women, she also found their impact did not start with a huge business plan. It began with simple, quiet, and repeatable things that they did in sisterhood. She felt these empowering stories needed to be told, so Jane summarized the lessons into her new book, Unlocked: How Empowered Women Empower Women. 

Our Rumblings community had an opportunity to have a virtual conversation with Jane to discuss our ability to influence societal change, especially when systemic and policy changes necessary to address fundamental issues of gender, age, and racial biases seem so impossible. 

She emphasized that change starts by taking one action with another person in our world. The opportunity is great, and we need to understand that we lift up all women when we help one woman. When we collectively do that as a regular practice, enough women will be standing in their full power, and systems and policy changes will follow. 

Our conversation was so rich and empowering that we wanted to share the key takeaways for women who missed it.  

How do you begin? 

Start by seeing yourself as a female activist. If you think of your actions as feminist actions, you will realize the impact goes beyond helping one dear friend or work colleague, and instead, you will recognize your simple steps are for the sake of all women. When you embrace female activism as a part of your personality and identity, you will seek ways every day to fulfill your way of being that type of person in the world.  

We’ve all had our own lived experiences as we’ve climbed the corporate ladder, raised children, taken care of aging parents, and made our way in the world. We know it hasn’t been easy, and we’re not here to claim that carving out even more time to help more women is easy either. 

However, we hope we all agree that we want a smoother path for the women—our daughters, nieces, neighbors, colleagues, etc.— coming behind us. This starts with being vulnerable, sharing your experiences—good and not so good—and asking for help when needed. 

You’re the most important person in your life. The first act of being a feminist is committing to take care of yourself first. When you make yourself a priority, you have the capacity to help other women. 

10 Keys to Unlock the Potential of All Women

1. Say yes to help another woman. Make an introduction. Have a call. Give advice when asked. 

2. Tell her she is ready! Be her cheerleader. Sometimes she just needs a gentle reminder to own her truth and claim her destiny.

3. Stand behind her. Back her up. Support her through struggles. Let her know you’re there for her. 

4. Help her help herself. Help her see everything available for her to clearly make her own choice or decision. 

5. Talk about money. Women earn less, invest less, and two-thirds of women have the potential to retire into poverty. You must get comfortable talking about money, encouraging women to ask for what they’re worth, and sharing how to invest money. 

6. Stand up for her. Support fairness, equity, and truth, especially when those principles are violated.

7. Be the example. Share your stories and personal experiences. Role model helping yourself and other women. Having empowered women as examples empowers other women. 

8. Give her confidence. Help her see her strengths, showcase her previous successes, and move past her fear. 

9. Send the elevator down. Make the journey easier for her by giving her a hand, hiring her, promoting her, or showcasing her talents.

10. Be a sister. Show up as a sister. Offer a kind word. Listen. Smile. Share a hug. 

“To empower another woman is a selfless act with untold possibilities.”

- Jane Finette

Now is the time. Get started today!

It’s all about this moment. You are ready. All that you have done before now has prepared you for this moment. You know how to put the keys to work to unlock the potential of women around you. Just begin. Start today.

Jane summed up our conversation brilliantly. “We all have everything inside us to live our fullest, and most exciting, and wild lives. We have all the wisdom from the women who came before us, and we have an incredible community of women supports. Ask for help from each other and give, receive, and keep showing up to moments like this because it’s a village; we need a village.”

If this summary has inspired you, we encourage you to buy and gift the book to all the women in your life. The proceeds from your purchases go to The Coaching Fellowship, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing young women leaders working in the social impact space, founded by Jane and described as her life’s work. 

A foundational principle, or Rock, at Rumblings is to advocate for and inspire women around us. Read more about our Four Rocks to Flourish After 50

Top 7 Tips for Successful Multigenerational Travel

I recently returned from a daughter, mother, grandmother trip to visit my son at Michigan State University (MSU). For almost 20 years, the three of us have intentionally planned trips to learn, connect, and seek adventure together. 

The trips have ranged from visiting the American Girl store in Chicago, a long weekend in Door County, week-long getaways in Michigan to two weeks in Italy and France during my daughter’s time studying abroad.  

We’ve had great times and created wonderful memories, but we've also learned how to travel well together. It’s not always easy when there is a 57 year age difference. 

Over time, and through trial-and-error, we’ve discovered seven strategies that work for us for successful multigenerational travel. 

1. Choose a Destination with a Personal Connection

My mom (grandma) grew up in Michigan. I was born in Michigan, lived there until I was two years old, and spent summers in my youth traveling back to Michigan to visit my grandparents. It’s been fun to intentionally plan trips back to Michigan to stir up memories and reminisce. Our trip to MSU was to visit my son at college, but also for my mom to share her stories of being a student there too. 

As you plan your trip, think about the purpose of traveling together. Is there a destination that would be fun for everyone, but also have a special connection for one or more of your family members? Do you want to create memories for your children? Do you want your children to get to know your parents and their life stories better? Craft an itinerary that fulfills the purpose for everyone.

2. Plan Activities You All Can Enjoy 

Given our age differences, choosing activities that we all enjoy can be challenging. Adventure sports, long strenuous hikes, or even hours spent in a museum don’t bring the same joy for all of us. However, there are two things we can all agree on—our love for local culture and food. We seek out innovative restaurants, local markets, or unique local boutiques while also stopping by meaningful locations during our trips. 

During our recent weekend away, we drove by the house my parents built (my first home) and the hospital where I was born. My mom enjoyed seeing the changes in these places over time, and my daughter and I enjoyed hearing her relive her memories from her time in Lansing. 

Planning activities with a mixture of new and old experiences creates excellent conversation and rich new memories together.

Have a conversation before your trip and identify what type of activities each person would enjoy. Consider each traveler's passions. Can you include that type of activity into your itinerary for everyone to enjoy? 

Do your research. We’ve found unique activities via travel books, blogs, and most recently, Tik Tok and Instagram influencers. Keep your mind open! Some of our most memorable experiences lately have come from ideas discovered by my daughter through social media. 

3. Let the Young Navigate

One of the biggest roadblocks we have tackled is how to get from A to Z. I have frequently felt stuck in the middle of a map reader (my mom) and an online Google Maps expert (my daughter). It came to a head on our trip to Europe four years ago. After living in France for six months, my daughter had Google Maps iPhone navigation down to a science. She could map us on any type of public transportation — trains, buses, and subways —in no time flat. Growing up using paper maps, my mom felt lost without seeing the big picture of where we were going to ensure we were going in the right direction. She would get anxious and frustrated with my daughter and me for not slowing down so she could review the map before deciding which direction we should go. Within a few hours, I realized I had to help my mom let go of control, trust her granddaughter's navigation skills, and be ok with following her lead so we could travel together without angst. 

In our experience, letting the young navigate creates less friction and gets us where we are going more quickly. This is not always easy for the older adults in the group who have been reliant on paper maps for travel. Our advice is to discuss this before your trip, review a paper map before your day begins, and encourage older travelers to trust, relax, and let go of the need to navigate during the day. 

4. Pack Light

A travel mantra I heard over and over growing up was never to pack more than you can carry. This has been critically important to remember during our multigenerational trips. We pack light and do not worry about wearing the same outfit multiple times. It keeps us mobile and allows us to quickly help one another when needed. 

We recommend traveling with a lightweight roller bag with 360-degree wheels and a backpack that can easily fit under the airplane seat and be light enough to carry while exploring new areas. Traveling light helps everyone in your group feel in control of their belongings, move more efficiently, and stay together during your trip. 

5. Listen

While walking the MSU campus, my mom started reminiscing about her time there from 1958 to 1962. Hearing her stories about being required to wear heels and suits to the football games, wear skirts to classes (women were not allowed to wear pants), and be in her room by curfew made Ella and I realize how far women have come in two generations. It made us appreciate the challenges women have fought to overcome so that our lives are better. 

Listening to stories from the generations ahead of you can help you better appreciate your life and opportunities while gaining new respect and appreciation for their past. This experience can create new connections between all travelers. 

Ask questions and listen. There is nothing like learning about someone in the place they lived or through an experience they had as a child as they relive it as an adult with you. It’s also fun for the adults to see a place through the eyes of younger generations for a fresh take on a familiar place.

6. Slow down

Let’s face it, our travel speed changes as we age. As my daughter, mother, and I have traveled together, we have had to adjust our expectations, pace, and patience as we have gotten older. We don't move at the same speed or schedule as many activities into a day as we once did.

Technology has added travel challenges. Mobile tickets, online check-ins, and QR codes can feel overwhelming when a person in your group is less comfortable with these new processes. Navigating technology-enhanced travel naturally takes more time for anyone not as familiar with digital changes. 

Yet, slowing down has benefits. There is more time to enjoy the scenery, take in the sounds around you, and appreciate the moment you're in instead of anticipating the next activity or sight to see.

It’s unrealistic to expect your multigenerational travel companions to all move at the same speed. Be realistic. Modify your expectations before you travel. Take the time to help others in your group who move more slowly. Walk with them. Help them with their luggage and work with them to navigate new technology. You’ll build new bonds and nurture a new relationship.

7. Be Grateful

My daughter, mother, and I are grateful for our time together traveling and the memories we’ve created. We understand that we’re lucky to have these opportunities. We have years of travel memories together. This past weekend, we added to those as we ate gelato for breakfast, wandered local boutiques, introduced my mom to Lululemon leggings and kombucha, shared memories over coffee and wine, and walked miles and miles around campus.  

Whether you are planning multigenerational trips with family or friends, consider these seven strategies for success.

What did we miss? What has worked for you and your family? Let us know. 

Are you wondering what to pack when you travel? Check out our favorite tips and items in our Jetsetter's Guide: Master the Art of Savvy Packing.