Episodes

Career Burnout? How to Make a Midlife Career Change Without Starting Over

September 29, 2026

Is Your Career Still Working For You? What if you know your career isn’t working anymore, but you don’t want to start a business, completely change industries, or throw away decades of experience? That’s something we don’t talk about enough when discussing career reinvention. A second act doesn’t always mean quitting corporate America and becoming […]

I'm SHANNON!

The Second Act Success Blog features articles to help inspire you as you navigate your second act career and business journey. My hope is that these quick reads will offer advice and comfort knowing you are not alone on your path towards second act success.

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Is Your Career Still Working For You?

What if you know your career isn’t working anymore, but you don’t want to start a business, completely change industries, or throw away decades of experience? That’s something we don’t talk about enough when discussing career reinvention.

A second act doesn’t always mean quitting corporate America and becoming an entrepreneur. Sometimes your second act is finding a healthier way to use the skills you already have.

On the Second Act Success Podcast, I sat down with Marianne DeMello-Smith, host of the Message in the Middle podcast, to talk about career burnout, midlife career change, workplace boundaries, transferable skills, and what it means to build a career around the life you want now.

Marianne’s story is especially important for anyone who has spent decades building a successful career and is wondering:

Do I really want to throw all of this away and start over?

The answer might be no. And that’s perfectly okay.

Listen to episode #271 of the Second Act Success Podcast about this topic below…

Listen on Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTube

When a Successful Career Stops Feeling Successful

Marianne began her career after college with degrees in journalism and English. As a single mom, however, she needed stability, benefits, and reliable income. She accepted a client service position with a large financial services organization. Then she started climbing.

Over 26 years, Marianne moved through numerous roles before eventually becoming a director and vice president overseeing teams that included business analysts, project managers, developers, and systems professionals.

By most traditional definitions, she had built a successful corporate career. But success can change.

What works for us at 25 or 35 may not be what we want at 45, 50, or 55.

After her company went through several acquisitions, Marianne began feeling increasingly disconnected from the organization’s goals and direction. She wasn’t enjoying her work anymore. She felt depleted. And eventually, she realized she was experiencing burnout.

After she left, her husband said something telling: “Wow, you’re back.” Marianne hadn’t fully realized how much her unhappiness at work had begun spilling into the rest of her life.

Career Burnout? How to Make a Midlife Career Change Without Starting Over

What Does Career Burnout Look Like?

Burnout isn’t always one dramatic breaking point. Sometimes it’s gradual. The job you once enjoyed becomes something you dread.

You feel depleted at the end of every day.

Your work follows you home mentally, even when you’ve closed the laptop.

You no longer feel aligned with your company’s values.

You start wondering whether you’re actually making a difference.

And yet, you keep going.

This can be especially difficult for women who have spent decades building their careers. You’ve invested so much time, developed relationships, earned promotions, and created a reputation.

Walking away can feel like throwing away everything you’ve built.

Marianne admitted that she stayed longer partly because she felt responsible for the team she had built and wasn’t confident that her skills would translate somewhere else.

Sound familiar?

You Don’t Have to Know What’s Next Before Making a Career Change

One of my favorite parts of Marianne’s story is that she didn’t leave her longtime career with a perfectly mapped-out second act waiting for her. She was nervous. She knew she still needed to work. And while she was confident in the job she’d been doing, she wasn’t necessarily confident that her skills would translate somewhere else.

That’s an incredibly common fear during a midlife career transition. You become so accustomed to seeing yourself inside one organization, job title, or industry that you forget something important: Your skills belong to you, not your employer.

Marianne had spent decades developing leadership, communication, project management, problem-solving, technology, analytical, and relationship-building skills. Those skills didn’t disappear when she left the company. Neither do yours.

Before You Find Your Next Job, Give Yourself Time to Think

After leaving her company, Marianne did something many people don’t allow themselves to do. She paused.

For approximately six months, she intentionally stepped away from conversations about her career. She didn’t immediately update LinkedIn and frantically begin applying for every available position.

Instead, she got quiet. She reflected. She rebuilt her confidence. And she started listening to parts of herself she felt she’d ignored for years.

Of course, not everyone has the financial ability to take six months away from work. Marianne acknowledges that herself. But even if you can’t take a six-month career break, you can create smaller pockets of space to ask yourself some important questions.

What do I want my life to look like now?

What isn’t working about my current career?

What am I no longer willing to tolerate?

What do I want more time for?

What parts of my career do I actually enjoy?

What do I want my relationship with work to look like?

Those questions can help you avoid leaving one job you hate only to recreate the exact same situation somewhere else.

A Midlife Career Change Doesn’t Have to Mean Starting Over

This may be the biggest takeaway from Marianne’s story. She didn’t decide to abandon corporate America. She didn’t start an entirely new career. And she didn’t decide entrepreneurship was the answer.

Instead, she found a new corporate role that worked better for her. Marianne became a chief of staff within a large infrastructure organization. But this time, she approached the job differently.

She went into the conversations with clear expectations.

She didn’t want an enormous team.

She didn’t want a 24/7 job.

She wanted to contribute meaningful work and be an important part of the organization without allowing her career to consume her life.

She communicated those conditions upfront and found an organization and leadership team that supported them.

That’s career reinvention too.

Set Your Career Non-Negotiables Before You Start Looking

Before making your next career move, determine your non-negotiables.

Maybe you need to leave by 5 p.m.

Maybe you don’t want to travel anymore.

Maybe you want remote or hybrid work.

Maybe you don’t want to manage a large team.

Maybe you want less responsibility.

Maybe you want more creativity.

Maybe you want work that aligns more closely with your values.

Maybe you’re willing to earn slightly less in exchange for getting more of your life back.

There is no universal right answer.

The important thing is knowing yours.

When you’ve spent years chasing promotions, raises, titles, and external validation, deciding you want something different can feel strange. But your definition of career success is allowed to change.

Your Transferable Skills Give You More Options Than You Think

Another major obstacle during a midlife career change is believing you’re stuck because your experience is too specific. Marianne challenges that assumption.

If you’re an event planner, your event planning skills can potentially translate across industries. If you’ve managed teams, you’ve developed leadership skills. If you’ve raised children, volunteered, led organizations, coordinated school activities, or managed community projects, you’ve developed skills there too.

Marianne encourages people to research different industries and companies, talk directly to employees, and investigate whether the culture actually matches what they’re looking for rather than relying solely on what a company says during the interview process.

Your career experience isn’t a box. It’s a collection of skills you can rearrange.

Your Professional Network Matters During a Career Transition

Marianne’s professional network played an important role in helping her find her next opportunity. When she was ready to begin looking again, people she’d built relationships with throughout her career were ready to make introductions and connect her with opportunities.

That’s why I always remind my clients: Don’t wait until you desperately need a network to start building one.

Stay connected to former coworkers.

Be active on LinkedIn.

Let people know what you’re doing.

Comment on other people’s posts.

Reach out when someone crosses your mind.

You don’t need to attend uncomfortable networking events every week either.

As Marianne points out, you’ve been networking throughout your entire career simply by building relationships with the people around you. Those relationships matter.

Your Second Act Can Include Something Just for You

Marianne’s career transition also helped her rediscover something she’d pushed aside for years. Creativity.

Remember those journalism and English degrees? During her career break, she started reconnecting with writing, communication, books, conversations, and her natural ability to connect people and ideas.

Eventually, that led her to create the Message in the Middle podcast. She launched the show in 2022 after spending months trying to figure out how to make everything perfect.

Finally, she decided it was good enough. She would start and figure out the rest along the way. There’s a lesson there that applies far beyond podcasting.

Stop Waiting Until You’re Ready

Want to start a podcast? Start.

Want to write a book? Write.

Want to explore a different career? Research it.

Want to start a business? Test the idea.

Want to reach out to someone on LinkedIn? Send the message.

Marianne’s advice is simple: Don’t wait for perfect.

When she started podcasting, she didn’t have everything figured out. She learned as she went. And with every step, she became more confident. That’s often how confidence works.

We think: Confidence → Action

But frequently it’s: Action → Experience → Confidence

You don’t need to feel completely comfortable before taking your first step. Sometimes you need to “do it messy.”

If you’re experiencing career burnout or considering a midlife career change, don’t begin by asking: “What job should I apply for?”

Begin with: “What do I want my life to look like now?”

Then think about the kind of work that can support that life.

Your next chapter doesn’t have to look dramatic from the outside to feel completely different on the inside. And you don’t have to throw away 20 or 30 years of experience to create your second act. You can take everything you’ve learned and use it to build something that fits the person you are today.

And if you’re thinking about starting a business or growing the one you’ve already started, you can also book a free Second Act Strategy Call with me.

👉 Book your free strategy call with me at https://secondactsuccess.co/strategy

Start Your Second Act Strategy Call

Connect with Marianne DeMello Smith:

https://www.messageinthemiddle.com/

READ SHANNON’S NEW BOOK:

https://startyoursecondact.com

WATCH SHANNON’S TEDX TALK: