My Story of Reinvention

If you’ve ever wondered how to make a career change at 40, I know that quiet tug that leads you there. The sense that there must be more to life than another promotion or pay rise.

When I hit 40 (celebrations paused due to Covid), I had what looked like a perfect life on paper, a successful career in a global recruitment company, a beautiful apartment overlooking Sydney Harbour, and great friends across two continents. I’d just been promoted to Director.

And yet, I felt stuck.

How It All Began

I was born and raised in Lyme Regis, a small seaside town on the south coast of the UK. After university, I went backpacking through Southeast Asia and, when I got home, I fell into recruitment through a graduate management program having absolutely no idea what recruitment even was.

For nearly two decades, I built a solid career as a recruiter and leader across the UK and Australia. Most of my career moves weren’t intentional; they were opportunities that came my way. I grew, I achieved, and I kept moving forward towards that Director title that I so wanted but I never paused long enough to ask why.

At 30, my husband and I moved to Sydney. The sun, the coffee, the ferry commute, it was everything I’d dreamed of. It was, by all accounts, “living the dream.”

But five years in, something was missing.

The First Signs of Change

It started quietly, the Sunday dread, the sense that I was living for weekends. My values didn’t quite align, and it was exhausting to keep pretending. Holidays became precious time to spend just two weeks with family on the other side of the world. I was grateful, yes, but I was also restless.

My work life had become a treadmill. Long hours, endless targets, the same thing week after week, year after year. And with it came the creeping realisation that I was spending more time surviving than actually thriving.

I started asking bigger questions:

• Is this really it?
  
• What would life look like if I stopped following the script?
  
• What does success even mean to me anymore?

Those questions eventually led to an even bigger one, what if we pressed pause?

The Turning Point: Taking a Sabbatical

In 2016, my husband and I found ourselves at a crossroads. As expats, we were asking: do we settle in Australia or return home to the UK? More deeply, we were wondering if we wanted to stay on the corporate path until retirement or do something completely different.

So we did something bold. We took an eight-month sabbatical.

It was part travel, part reflection, and part emotional detox from the pace of corporate life. We explored, journaled, talked about what really mattered, and slowly began to see how far we’d drifted from our values.

For the first time in years, we had space to think, really think, about what kind of life we wanted to design.

This sacred time changed everything.

How a Sabbatical Sparked a Career Change at 40

During our break, I reconnected with the things that made me feel most alive: freedom, sunshine, creativity, and meaningful connection.

When we returned to Australia, I knew I couldn’t go back to “business as usual.” So, we reverse-engineered a five-year plan built around three themes: freedom, connection and sunshine!

Freedom to work differently.
Freedom to live between France and Australia.
Freedom to choose how we spend our time.

We didn’t have all the answers, but we had a direction, a north star if you will, and a vision.

Five years later, we both left our corporate jobs and stepped into the unknown.

The Leap: Leaving Corporate and Starting Over

Leaving a steady career at 40 was both terrifying and exhilarating.

I retrained as a Coach, while my husband threw himself into restoring a 16th-century derelict barn in France, a wedding gift to ourselves we’d been putting off for years.

It was our version of rewriting the rules.

My days suddenly looked nothing like they used to. Morning yoga on a building site, coffee and journaling in the sunshine (but still on a building site), building a coaching practice with patchy internet. Messy, imperfect, but filled with a deep sense of alignment I hadn’t felt in years.

I was no longer chasing promotions, I was creating a life.

The Reality Check: When Your First Reinvention Isn’t the Right One

Here’s the thing about changing careers in your 40s though, it’s rarely a straight line.

Becoming a travel blogger and writer sounded perfect, until it wasn’t. But rather than seeing it as failure, I saw it as prototyping testing, learning, and iterating. Through working with my own coach and exploring my ikigai, I realised what truly lit me up wasn’t just travel it was transformation. Using my purpose and experience in service to others.

Helping people who, like me at 40, are ready to step back, reevaluate, and redesign their lives to find work that truly works for them.

The Transformation: From Corporate Recruiter to Career Transition Coach

Today, I have what I call a portfolio career. I work as a career transition coach, sabbatical coach, and career break coach, and I still keep one foot in recruitment. I help professionals at a crossroads, often in their late 30s, 40s, and 50s, navigate their own reframes, remodels, relocations, and reinventions.

I blend traditional coaching with my 20+ years of recruitment experience to help people figure out:

• What they really want next
  
• What’s getting in the way
  
• And how to take practical, sustainable steps toward a life that actually fits
  

It’s not about quitting everything overnight, it’s about realigning your life with your values, one intentional step at a time.

Now, my husband and I split our time between rural France and Australia, chasing sunshine, spending time with our favourite people, and honouring the freedom we once dreamed of. We’ve created the kind of balance we used to think was impossible, measured on our own terms.

What I Learned About How to Make a Career Change at 40

If you’re considering a midlife career transition, here are some lessons from my own journey:

1. Give Yourself Permission to Pause

You can’t design a life you love when you’re running on fumes. A sabbatical, a long holiday, or even regular reflection time can give you the clarity you’ve been craving.

2. Redefine Success on Your Terms

You’ve changed and your definition of success should too. What mattered at 25 might not matter at 40. And that’s ok, in fact, it’s good, it’s growth..

3. Prototype Your Next Move

Before leaping, test your ideas. Volunteer, freelance, study, or shadow someone. Each small experiment teaches you something valuable.

4. Don’t Fear “Failure”, It’s Data

Every path that doesn’t fit gets you closer to the one that does. My “failed” ventures taught me exactly what I didn’t want and that’s powerful information.

5. Build a Support System

Big change doesn’t happen in isolation and doesn’t happen overnight. Surround yourself with people who get it. Mentors, coaches, communities, professionals and friends who fuel your courage.

Redefining What’s Possible at 40

Changing careers at 40 isn’t about starting over. It’s about coming home to yourself, your values, and your version of success.

If my story proves anything, it’s that it’s never too late to rewrite your narrative. You don’t have to wait until retirement to live the life you want. You can begin now, one thoughtful, brave step at a time.

Ready to Start Your Own Reinvention?

If you’re wondering how to make a career change at 40, know this: you already have everything you need, you just need space, courage, and support to bring it into focus.

I’d love to help you find it.

👉 Book a free discovery call to explore your next chapter and start designing a life you don’t need a break from.