Can peope change life direction after 40?

I received my degree in 1995 when I was 53 years old. Since then I have taken up writing, though this had nothing to do with my degree.

My articles and short stories have appeared in several magazines and still do. (There is one of my stories in the current issue of The Lady - 16th-21st Dec). In May of this year, at the age of 66, my first novel, The Trojan Project was published. Life is not only for the young!!
Cheers, Eileen Thornton
www.eileenthornton.co.uk

Hi Everybody,

I'm 40 years old and work in the telecoms industry as a business communications consultant. I recently changed companies and received priase and respect from my potential employers for my motivation. The balance of family, work and study can at times be difficult but I truly believe that at 40 years old, my experience matched with a degree, will give me an advantage over most. So my advice is as follows; get some experience in your choosen career path and what ever your age you will be an attractive proposition to any employer.

I'm 120 points (all done in one year!) into my BA Honours in Business Studies with Information Communication Technology.

Good Luck and remember you're as young as you feel!

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year

Simon

There is no set age to change your life around, you just need to make a decision to do something different. . . . I am nearly 48, I gave up working about 5 years ago to look after my poorly wife. I have used a fair bit the time since to study. I was previously working in factory's on and off for about 30 years, mostly shift work and I do not intend to go back to that unless I really have to. I was successful in any position I took, but the job was never satisfying. I expect to return to work 'self employed' as soon as the recession lifts. .

Hi Tilly,

I'm 45 and, having spent years building my career in Finance, I'm now looking for a change. I'm not sure which way I want to go yet, but I do know that I feel it's "now or never" time for me. I don't think 40 is to late to change your life around, I think it's probably the best age to do it. We're wiser, supposedly more mature, stable and reliable, sensible - all those good qualities potential employers look for. As a manger who has interviewed and chosen countless staff for my dept, over the years, I'd value some one like ourselves. Let's face it, we're not going to call in sick every Monday ( hangover !), we're not going to have to keep rushing off because the school have called again ! We're not going to spend the days sulking because we've had a row with our partner, or gazing into space because we're back in love with the boy from Accounts..... are we ? By studying,or choosing to do anything that betters yourself, we show commitment and determination. What employer is going to pass that over ? The current employment market is dire, but this will change. What an employer looks for in a candiate, this won't change.

Good Luck with your studies.
Happy Christmas to all.
Beverley

Hi Tilly hello how are you

It wont be for the want of trying!! I am coming 53 on my next birthdate. I was married too young, reared my two children, cared for my husband for 12 years and now widowed. I continued to care for my mother for another 11 years and loved them all to bits. I have a disability myself and as my mother passed away last January, I live alone mostly in isolation which I often like. I love the courses I picked and hopefully in about five years time, I will have my degree which I intend using, to make posivite changes in our society. I would like to continue with a masters degree at that point. I started the cousrse because I thought I had dementia and I wanted to get my brain working and thinking by using it as my physcial body is worn out so far it is working but I do get tired very easy, mind you I still lose my keys and spectacles all the time. Go for it you can do anything you set your mind at just beleive in yourself you deserve it.

Hi Tilly,

I began my study at the OU at 38, I wanted a complete career change and an OU degree seemed a good way to set the wheels in motion. I'm about to starts my final year to complete my Hons degree. It seemed like a very long journey when I started but i'm nearly there and have really enjoyed learning something completely new, and which really motivates me. I've combined OU study with volunteering in my chosen field and I would recommend that approach. Having a degree and a CV that shows you've some experience in the field, even as a volunteer, should put you in good stead to eventually get a job. I really think 40ish is a great age for employers, you have maturity, life experience and wisdom (hopefully!). Any employer you'd want to work for should value those qualities, and if they don't then perhaps they don't deserve you!

Having the above and a degree under your belt should really put you on track for that "new life". That's been my strategy anyway.

Will.

Hi Tilly,
I am 76, obtained my BSC (Hons) just last week, all subjects were Physics or technology related. Started with studying for fun on my retirement, S357 Space, Time and Cosmology and got hooked to OU method of teaching. Three courses (Maths MST207, S207 asnd S283)at level 2, all others at level 3.
Planning to go for Masters, but keen to join new course Chaos theory next year, been waiting for it since it was announced at Birmingham during a Revision weekend some six years back.
Mustafa Jaffari

I don't know about the age thing, I'm embarking on my second life change which I started at 38 when I began to study.
In my early 30's I decided to leave my career as a successful retail manager to do something entirely different ( and oddly, better paid ). I spent thousands of my own money gaining my HGV licences and spent 6 years living in a lorry for 6 days a week, in fact for two of those years I was studying Social Science with the OU, which I continue to do. However, I found that although I enjoyed the job, I didn't enjoy the lifestyle and it's health *benefits* and last year stopped doing that to look for a job in the charity sector. I managed to get a great temporary job last summer on a record breaking project which didn't go to plan entirely, I'm still involved as a trustee of the charity. No matter how hard I try, how many jobs I apply for though or interviews I attend I just can't get a job in the charity sector and my saved funds are coming to an end. I am faced with the harsh reality that I shall have to forego all the things I want to do, all my voluntary work and return to Lorry driving to support myself.
I can however say that I have tried and I will keep trying, eventually I will get somewhere, just not now it seems.

Just popped back online to have a look and see if anyone else had posted and have been blown away by the optimism of many of you.

I am very motivated right now, and am certain I will see the course through this year. I havent as yet got an exact goal in mind, but am just going to concentrate on moving forward.

Good luck to all who are starting or continuing their study or career journeys, and a happy and healthy 2009 to all of you.

Tilly

Like many of the others I set out on an academic journey in my late 30's. In my case I started to study because the job I was then doing did not challenge me so to keep my brain active I started. Little did I know I would end up with an honours degree in Psychology. It had its highs and lows, a couple of the courses nearly drove me round the bend but I scraped a pass in those and achieved my degree. Now I am studying for an MSc who knows where that will take me. Age doesn't seem to be an issue the key seems, for me, to be follow your dreams even when things are tough.

It is totally possible to change the direction of your life. You have to be totally focussed on your goals and on proving that you can do at least a well as the younger students.
I am 61 years old now: I gave up full time employment in my mid-forties, when my children were aged 12 and 3, to take a full time HND Course.I was divorced and had to do part time work to supplement my income at the same time as studying. I secured a one year contract immediately on completion of the course (my cv looked good as I was able to boast that I had graduated first in my class) and from then on my career took off meteorically. I have completed 13 years of contract work on regeneration schemes and achieved a Post Graduate Certificate in Management. My last post before retirement was as a Regeneration Programme Director on a 30 month contract.I earned over £46K pa. and received a 25% terminal bonus.

My advice would be to work really hard to achieve your qualifications; be prepared to accept short term contracts; be prepared to travel to work if you don't live in a city (I travelled 40 miles to my last place of work); and look for work in the public sector.I think that above all your chosen qualification should be relevant to the work that you want to do; and if you don't have any relevant work experience to do some voluntary work.

I am about to embark on AA100, for personal development purposes, and anticipate and hope that the course of my life will change yet again.

Good luck, and stay positive and focussed when the going gets tough - as it inevitably will sometimes.

Hi Tilly
I don't think its ever too late to go for a degree. I was over forty when I started my OU studies and initially had to get a great deal of help with my reading and writing skills. Since then I used my OU modules to get into college and get work in Different areas. I have been fortunate enough to work for a project that paid for college courses etc and I also worked in the guidance and now teach. Most of those I worked with have been late starters and are either stll in college or graduated in different areas. My former secretary has just qualified as a phychotherapist with some help from me. Both of us are in our early fifties and are having a ball doing the things we like. My 30 year daughter is hoping to start an OU course soon because she was thrilled when I finally got my degree at Christmas.
Best of luck
Tommygin

I was forty when it happened;at the vets.

I was with our three lairy Red Setters and our gentle Jack Russell who killed rats in less than a tenth of a second. I loved dogs. My husband loved dogs. We went dog walks on Dartmoor. We had

The Setter Box.

Look for 3 dogs
The colour of fox
A Jack Russell Terrier
And ask for the box

The dogs went fishing too.The dogs went everywhere with us. They were our life. We were saving the planet. We weren't going to add to the already unsustainable population of humans.

The vet came into the waiting room looking sombre. He tried to break the news gently to the blonde haired Mummy, but it was hopeless. The little girl in dungarees and red wellingtons had red ribbons on her pigtails. She was inconsolable. Her rabbit was dead.

I wanted one
Allova sudden, the most important thing in the world was that I should have a little girl with dungarees and pigtails and red wellies... after initial disbelief, my husband realised that I meant it.
Yep. At 40, our lives changed direction.
At 40, I went broody. We were blessed with two little girls, just like that; no trouble at all. It hardly seemed fair. So many couples can't have children at all.
This Christmas Day, we found out we are going to be grandparents. Joy! We are still trying to save the planet though. I keep nagging about plastic bags, and we recycle our bottles...oops.

Emphatically, YES!! I was almost 50 when I parted company with the world of employment, and have completely reinvented my life since then. I don't regret one iota of it.

BSc (Open) Natural Science with Earth Science, 2007

Passed my first OU degree when I was 41 (ten years ago last year) and used it to progress through a series of jobs which paid less but I loved more. Passed a Masters a couple of years ago and I shape my working life around jobs I enjoy regardless of the money - as long as I can pay the bills of course. What I have now is confidence, that's what qualifications offer far more than the other stuff. Go for it!

I'm 40 this year (July, if you wanna send a card ;) ) and I am in my second year of my BSC Psychology degree. I just wanna say how inspiring it is reading your comments epsecially Glennie, I found your comment especially inspirational, so thank you all.

Paul

I am 40 this year (April - Easter wkend!) and I started the OU as to obtain my degree before my 40th Birthday. I graduate in June - BA(Hons) in Business :o) and start my Masters in June. I began by asking myself - How could I possibly steer my child into Higher Education without experiencing it for myself? What would she think when I talk to her about studying at university when I didn't do it myself?
Along the way I have made some great friends, and have studied with people from 19 to 70. It has been those friendships that have pulled me through difficult tma's and exam nerves - and I like to think that they feel the same! Learning is for life and I now wonder if I have enough time to do all the things that now interest me and I find myself making a list of places I want to visit, topics I want to study further, things I want to investigate. Enjoy your course Tilly and never look back!
Paul P - my husband is 40 too in July! Have a great year.

Hello Tilly

I'll be 52 in May. I began my OU degree after my husband and I parted way back in 1987. I got my degree in '93. After 14 years on my own, with my little girl, I became Bill's partner and we were very, very happy together until he died suddenly last Easter. I've just embarked upon the Art History Masters and am training to be an Adviser with the Citizens' Advice Bureau. This takes at least 7 months' training so I've got my work cut out but there is a strong likelihood I'll find a paid position due to my training. Good Luck!

I retired to live in Thailand at the age of 50 due to stress and before the job I was doing made my health worse.

I'm now happier than I've been for several years, though the current exchange rate is a cause for concern at the moment.

I've had an interest in astronomy for many, many years so started investigating what options I had to take this forward. Unfortunately, a degree course with the OU isn't an option I can choose due to my residence in Thailand but I have since completed two short courses. The result for the first one, S194 is due out later this month whilst I have until the end of next month to submit my ECA for the second one, S196.

I discovered that the University of Central Lancashire offers an on-line degree course in astronomy with no exams so I intend signing up for that after Easter. I plan to attempt 3 modules in the first year and maybe the same in the 2nd.

Alan

Having spent 50 years as a building services design engineer, I was dreading retirement until a friend talked me into dropping my scientific interests in favour of the arts and signing on for an OU degree in Literature. The change has 'opened doors' to parts of my mind that I barely knew existed. I now think of myself as a poet and have made lots of new friends through writers circles and poetry workshops.

So the answer is yes. You can teach an old dog new tricks.

A Google search revealed a 95 year old American lady who was about to graduate in some subject or other.

So, if she can do it, anyone can.

I also believe (and have done so for many years now) that keepiing your brain active in some way - studying with the OU or some similar body or simply doing cryptic crosswords etc - helps prevent the onset of the likes of Alzheimers' Disease.

I was brought up in the days before calculators and can still multiply two two digit numbers by mental arithemetic alone. There are, of course, short cuts I use which make the likes of 79 * 89 particularly easy.

Alan

I'm 45 years old and have chosen to take early severance from the Civil Service after 21 years. I leave in October and will continue in my Childhood and Youth Studies qualification - hopefully finishing next year. I will also do foster care work and do more cake decorating, which I don't do as much as I would like, due to having to go out to work. I really can't wait to leave work and am extremely positive and confident about the future. Even if the cake decorating goes really well and I choose not to take on paid work working with young people, I would still do voluntary work in this field. I've not bothered about my age since I was 25 and seem to grow in confidence as the years roll on by.

I began my OU studies at the age of 43, and now at 50 am embarking on a new career as a teacher, having just completed training with the Graduate Teacher Programme. You're as old as you feel (94 when finishing a vital assignment at 3 in the morning...) and if you believe in yourself you can climb any mountain you like. One of my favourite mottos is 'Life is not a rehearsal.'

Hi Tilly, after 15 years in industry I'm on a PGCE to teach science. I'm 45 and totally changing career direction. Go for it. !! What have you got to lose?
Gerry

Tilly - at 40 I was a vet assistant working for a boss I didn't like. My interim [to now] has been tumultuous and I am now remarried, am self employed as a chiropractor, homeopath, vet, etc.
I have turned into an OU anorak - MSc, soon BSc in Psychology then BA Humanities, BA History, BSc Health Studies.

In other words enjoy life as it comes.

Alan

hi i am 43 and i am divorced after 15 years of marriage due to ill health at the moment i cannot work, but one thing i can do is write and study. i have two young children and are full time commitment the nearest uni is either york or leeds which is miles away and not easy to get 2. i did start a spanish course but i could hack it so im trying french instead, it has always been my favorite subject. my mum dad are over 65 and have just gone on a computor course so i say you are never too old for anything new. tilly your comments are right re: judgement of your size and looks. i watched a programme where a blond eyed size 8 woman went for a job and then a size 22 plus went for the same interview - they had secret cameras on them and the difference was digusting how the interviewer talked to them. guess who got the job?

**i watched a programme where a blond eyed size 8 woman went for a job and then a size 22 plus went for the same interview - they had secret cameras on them and the difference was digusting how the interviewer talked to them. guess who got the job?**

The difficulty I have with statements like this, its normally from women, and normally implying some form of prejudice, normally by men. These statements don't seem to account for the obvious; wherever I've been, employed people come in all shapes and sizes and various hues of attractiveness.

One off programmes who's interest lie in 'proving' something or other aren't necessarily the most reliable of sources.

The truth is by far the majority of people are various shades of average and this is reflected in employees across the contry.

The odd genuinely good looking/attractive person that comes along will have an advantage, and people will treat them better, that's nature. The same way women treat attractive, handsome men totally different to average or ugly men (and women for that matter). The same way the cute, pretty little girl will be fussed over more than the ugly, deformed one.

People prefer to look at a beautiful sunset rather than the content sewer.

Absolutely.

I suffer from bipolar disorder, so my life's never been what you'd call 'stable' anyway. But since getting my first degree, I've 'changed career' twice. I started out in IT, moved to teaching and am now waiting until I finish the OU degree, to go back to that. For now.

I'm 42 (although I feel 21). :-)

I certainly hope life can change after 40.

I passed that milestone (millstone?) last March and that was the time I began my first course with the OU. After doing quite well with the first few years of schooling, I sort of lost my way. When it came time to chose options, I wanted to do what was then called Computer Studies. However, the head of the Science Department was convinced that I should study another science discipline to go with the Physics I had already chosen. She seemed to think I was well suited to Scientific study. My Parents agreed and biology replaced computing. Unfortunately, as I was more attracted to the beeps and pixels of the computer department's BBC model B computers, I lost all interest and just stopped trying. With absolutely no revision or effort I left school at 16 with 7 C.S.E.s from grade 1 to grade 4 and a biology O level (ok grade D but it's still a pass lol). Since then I have had several jobs in manufacturing but always felt that I had let myself down.

I guess hindsight is a wonderful thing. A few years ago I decided to do something about this. I found a home study course in Land and Forestry Management and began working as a Volunteer Ranger at a Local country park. This just further underlined my growing interest in the Environment and associated sciences. I passed the course with an A grade but , Unfortunately , a forced job change meant I had to stop the volunteer work, however, I was forced to accept that my old Science Head might have been right. So, with this epiphany, I thought it was time to bite the bullet and go back to education properly. I too was worried that at 40 I had left it too late but it's never too late to learn, so they say, and I enjoyed my first course so much that I only waited a few weeks before enrolling for my next one.

Whether I graduate and find someone to employ me as a 46 year old remains to be seen but I shall be looking forward to finding out.

I wish you well in your studies,

Darren

Im 39 in october and am just starting out. age is no barrier and i cant wait to start.