I went back to work full-time when I was 58. If we hadn't had a lot of moves in the 15 years preceding, and if our last move hadn't been to a small manufacturing city with few jobs that really called out to me I probably would have gone back to work full-time sooner.

And when I did, I discovered that the other things I had done after moving to the small manufacturing city (a small publishing business, freelancing for the Catholic press and a few other publications) helped me to become a communications director in a monastery and retreat center, spending each day with prayerful, committed people in tranquil, beautiful surroundings, working at a job that feeds my soul as well as my wallet.

It was worth the wait, and the intermediate steps I took towards it.

Yes, you can have a mid-life career change.