Women Wiser Than I: Tamsen Fadal

The timer is not up yet

Feb 28, 2026

“There is no expiration date on your reinvention. You haven’t missed your window. You’re not too old or too late or too stuck. Midlife isn’t about giving up. It’s about coming home to yourself. Fully. Finally. Unapologetically.” —Tamsen Fadal

After coming across this quote, I desperately wanted to believe it.

I have spent the last two years job hunting, and I’ve been having a hell of a time at it. It’s demoralizing, exhausting, and infuriating being ghosted by employers after spending entire days tailoring my resume and writing a new cover letter for each job, scouring the job boards for something that isn’t a scam, updating my LinkedIn profile, ridding my inbox of job adverts that aren’t relevant to me, and applying to companies who have already chosen an internal candidate but have kept the posting open as a legal formality.

I’m trying to reinvent myself, embark on a new career path. But with all the crickets, I can’t help but wonder:

Am I too old?

Too late?

Too stuck?

Have I missed my window?

As a woman in early mid-life trying to enter a completely new career field from anything I’ve done before, am I no longer relevant to the current job market?

At 52, Tamsen Fadal left a 15-year career in journalism to focus on a new career as a menopause advocate, podcaster and influencer. On her show, she talks with many wise and successful women about reinvention in midlife—including how to create your dream career. I look to her and her guests as older sisters, paving the road for me so that I may learn from their own trials and errors.

While the above quote is inspirational, I needed more than just inspiration. I needed proof. So, I did some digging and here’s what I found:

· 35% of career transitions happen after 40.

· 45 is the average age of successful startup founders.

· 50% of small business owners are over 50.

· 82% of people who change careers after 45 report satisfaction.

· 85% of midlife female founders started after 40.

This quote and these numbers don’t guarantee me anything, but they are reassuring—a much-needed reminder that there is no expiration date on reinvention. Regardless of what comes of my job search, I choose to believe the clock hasn’t run out yet.

For more of Tamsen’s wisdom: