11 Simple Steps to Reinventing Your Life After 50

Before we begin I have a secret to share with you. You don’t have to stay the same person for the rest of your life, especially if you’re unhappy and hate your life. Today we’re gonna talk about how to reinvent yourself at 50 but really, this is possible at any age.

The first thing to understand is that change is possible. Without a doubt. It’s up to us to make changes to our lives so we can be happy but one thing keeps stopping us. Well, 2 things actually.

1. We don’t know how, and
2. We’re really scared.

Seriously. That’s it. It’s scary and we don’t know what we’re doing. So we don’t do anything and we just stay the same. Boring right?

(this article contains affiliate links so if you make a purchase I may make a small commission-affiliate disclosure here)

How to reinvent yourself after 50?

Let’s first understand what this means to reinvent yourself. I think it means a lot of different things to everyone. Some people go under the knife and totally reinvent the way they look. Others reinvent themselves with a career change.

I mean you can reinvent yourself a thousand ways when you think about it.

Here are a few more examples:

• moving town/country/continent
• changing your religion or beliefs
• completely overhauling your friend’s list
• changing your entire wardrobe or style
• changing your diet and your physical health
• new career

And that’s just a few different ways you can reinvent yourself.

So, what does it mean to reinvent yourself?

It simply means that the person you are or were doesn’t make you happy anymore (for lack of a better word) or you’re just plain tired of the person you used to be, and you truly desire to be someone you’ve always wanted to be: like a free person!

You’re not stuck in the way you live your life now. You can totally start making some changes. I remember when I left my relationship and sat and looked back at my life, one of the biggest questions I asked myself was “How can I reinvent my life after 50”?

I was sure it was too late. I was positive I was too old. Neither was true. I was just beginning!!

How I reinvented myself back in 2015

So the Reader’s Digest Version of my life goes something like this:

• at 51 years old, I left my abusive relationship with no money, no job, and no belongings
• after being a hairstylist for 25 years, I traded that in and became a freelance writer
• spent a year doing deep healing and personal growth
• left my home country (goodbye comfort zone!)
• bought a one-way ticket and flew to Guatemala (I’m still here)

As you can see, I completely reinvented my life and who I was.

I had over 50 years to unplug from and reinvent. It was fun and scary and so rewarding beyond belief. I never once thought in a million years I’d be living the life I have now. If I knew it was this easy I would have done it sooner.

Over on my YouTube channel, I discussed how to start over at 50. You might like this video. This is actually a new channel and I barely had any subscribers but over 27,000 people watched and loved this video (maybe more by now!!)!

I also wrote this blog post that resonated with so many readers. You can check it out here:

How to Start Over at 50 With No Money

Where Do You Even Start With Reinventing Your Life?

Although I’ve listed 11 simple steps to get started on reinventing your life, it’s the getting started that is the hardest and most frustrating part for many of us midlife women. We’re so used to doing things for everyone else but ourselves.

I think it’s important to sit back and reflect a little on your personal life and maybe even give it a rating from 1 to 10 (1 being the unhappy 10 being totally ok with your life). What needs to change?

Sitting down and writing out some things is a good idea and a great way to take a deeper look into your life and the areas that need improvement.

Do you need a new job? Is it time to say goodbye to some older friends and make new ones?

When we let go of some of our old ways and thoughts, we make room for new things, new opportunities and new people.

Don’t feel bad about that by the way. We don’t all grow at the same rate and not everyone belongs in the next chapter of your life and that’s ok.

Maybe you are ready to move to a new city or even start your own business! The sky is the limit! You can do whatever you want.

How to reinvent yourself physically

Pin

Maybe your life really is ok and you just need to make a major change in your physical health (exercise/diet/nutrition/etc).

I’m kinda in the process of doing just that now, yes, even at 59 years old.

Truth be told, and something very few people know about me, I used to be serious into bodybuilding (I wish I still had some photos to show you). I was in my 40s, working at the YMCA as a personal trainer and aerobics instructor, and just became obsessed with bodybuilding.

I reached a very high point in my fitness and then just tapped out but have tried to take care of my health off and on since then. I’m back in the gym now, 5 days a week, I just quit smoking (almost 2 years now-yay me!!) and am eating way healthier than I have in a long time.

So you could say I am reinventing myself physically.

I would say it’s harder to reinvent yourself physically then it is to just make a few small changes in your life (ie clothes, hairstyle, religious beliefs, etc). When you are overhauling your physical health, it takes an awful lot of discipline and determination.

Both are not so easy to come by.

I would recommend if you want to know how to reinvent yourself physically, read some fitness blogs, watch some good fitness ( I really like Body Project on YouTube) and healthy eating videos on YouTube and then set a date and do it.

Unless you’re going under the knife and totally reinventing yourself with plastic surgery, then you should def watch some videos on that. Know what you’re getting into before you spend all your money on that stuff please. Please.

You should watch an episode of Botched. For real.

How to reinvent yourself at 50 (or any age really)

Pin

I could say that it’s easy to reinvent yourself at 50 or any age but it’s actually not. I mean, wait, it is but it isn’t. Then again, all depends on what exactly you are reinventing.

If you look at my history, I completely reinvented my entire existence from my job to the place I live. I learned new skills and my life took on a whole new direction.

It’s kinda crazy even for me when I look back on all I’ve accomplished.

It was not easy, it took some time, it was scary af all the time, but I did it. I know without a shadow of a doubt if I can do it so can you ( I know I know so cliche).

But honestly. I want you to go watch some other videos on YouTube or wherever about people who have reinvented their lives and see that someone is already doing what you want to do.

So it’s not impossible. It’s just gonna take a bit of work.

11 steps to help you change your life at 50

1 Recognize you aren’t happy

The most important thing is to recognize that you aren’t happy either with your life or the way you feel/look. When I left my last relationship, I was miserable and hated my life. I didn’t like the woman staring back at me in the mirror and I knew I needed to change.

Everything.

I started with small steps by writing out what needed to be changed and then made the decision that I was going to do something about it.

2 Decide what needs to be changed

Decide which areas of your life need an overhaul. Is it physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, professional, or demographic? Also, please note that while we are making changes to be happier, you can’t chase happiness. You have to do and find the things that make you happy, that make your heart sing.

Does that make sense?

Is it your town, your job, your family, the financial situations you have been in that have crippled you? I mean, what is it that needs an overhaul??

3 Do some research

The third thing you need to do is research to find out what you have to do to make some of the changes you want to make. Find and follow people (like me!) on social media who have already done what you want to do, send them emails, comment on their stuff and get answers.

How hard will it be? How easy will it be? Do you need money? How much? Find out all these things and more.

4 Understand friendships

Something you’ll need to know as you start life transitions is that you will lose people along the way and that’s ok. I lost most of my friends and half my family. It is what it is. Yes I’m sad about this but I’ve made new friends along the way and sometimes friends become family.

Not everyone in your life is on the same path as you are.

Many people don’t want to change for whatever reason, so while you are growing and evolving and making some awesome life changes, your friends may fall to the wayside. That’s ok. You’ll make new ones!

5 Self-talk daily

As you start on this new path or yours, you will battle resistance that comes from inside you. You will need to continuously talk to yourself and let yourself know you’re ok, you’re going to be ok and everything is ok.

Change is hard and scary right? We don’t even know what we’re doing half the time. Just keep doing it. You’ll figure it out along the way. We all do.

6 Get support from your friends

During the process of reinvention, you may feel alone and lonely. It’s always good to have a support system, especially of your closest old friends who can keep you accountable and motivated.

When we talk about our goals, hopes and dreams, they can seem out of our reach but they aren’t. Find someone who will support you and cheer you on the whole way!

7 Face your fears

This is a tough one. What you’re doing is scary even though you know you’re doing the right thing.

Each new challenge you will face will also force you to face your fears. You can do this. You’re bigger, stronger and way more powerful than your fears.

8 Look how far you’ve come

It’s easy for us to think we aren’t worthy or capable, as most of us have had those limiting beliefs all our lives but my gosh, look how far you’ve come already.

Look at all the amazing things you’ve already done in your life. You’re just getting started, again and what a perfect time!! You have all these skills and talents just waiting to be unleashed.

9 Forget your age

You must stop looking at how old you are and comparing your life to others. Your age has no bearing on your life reinvention right now. You are now in the process of becoming the best version of yourself ever.

How exciting!!!

Don’t worry about how old you are. The more you worry about that, the less likely you are to make any big changes or small changes.

10 Take action

Once you’ve decided which areas need an overhaul, you’ve done some research to see how to do it, it’s now time to start taking action and actually doing it.

That’s the scary part. That’s the part that will make you lose your breath, make you feel like you want to throw up, make you cry and may even make you stop and change your mind. It’s ok to feel any or all of that. Feel it, go through it, embrace it and know that when you come out the other side you are going to love your new life.

11 Let go and have faith

You have to got to have some faith, not only in yourself but in the new way you are going about your life. All the next steps you are taking to make your life the best it can be.

Some of you probably changed your core values. I know I sure did. Maybe come of you are going through a professional reinvention.

Whatever the case may be, you need to flick your fear and have faith that quite possibly, for the first time in your life, you are on the right track and your life has the potential to be beyond amazing.

Reinventing Yourself at 50-It’s Time to Take Action!

That’s honestly the hardest part: taking action—the first step. So many don’t and it hurts my heart.

I get emails all the time from women who are so inspired by my story yet they don’t follow through with what they tell me they are going to do. It’s so sad. The only thing standing in your way is you and the stupid excuse that you can’t.

You can.

Do you want to spend the rest of your life living in regret? Oh HELL no you don’t. I know you want to change your life. I know you want to be happier. I know you don’t want things to stay the way they are now. I know all that and so do you!!!!

I can’t even imagine what my life would be like right now if I was still freezing my butt off in Canada, working to build someone else’s dream and being miserable the whole time.

Yuck.

If you’re there, at the miserable stage, it’s your sign, your time, to make changes. Step into your power and reinvent yourself and your life the way YOU want it. The way you truly want it. Face the fear and do it.

You so got this.