How a Mom in Her 40s Navigates School Non-Attendance | Exploring the Possibilities of a Career Change

In my 40s, I finally started to find fulfillment in my work; it was the arrival of the glorious days I had been waiting for. With a 20-year career, I began to see my surroundings in a more relaxed flow. Having acquired a certain amount of skill and knowledge, I finally had the breathing room to pay attention to other areas.

That was when my child stopped going to school, and
I was forced to shift gears in life.

The 40s are a time to discover strengths from experience

Changes in the family

I gave birth to my first child at 35. I had been working the whole time, so I put the child in daycare and continued my career.
Caring for aging parents was something that could happen in the not-too-distant future, and since I had my second child at 37, I should have vaguely anticipated that a time would come when various factors would overlap.

I continued working as a full-time regular employee and overcame the 'first-grade wall' with my son.
I was a mom who made full use of the reduced-hours system, bowing to staff around me as I rushed to pick up my son from the children's center and my daughter from the kindergarten's extended care.
Was it minute-by-minute? Second-by-second? I would jog from the office to the car, telling my children to hurry as I went from one pickup to the next.

I spent my days with my brain running at full capacity just to get through the daily routine.
Just when I felt a sense of accomplishment in my work, my son started resisting school in the second grade, and before I knew it, he had stopped attending.
Then my daughter developed separation anxiety, and I became unable to go to work.

A shift in consciousness

I couldn't work. This was a huge blow. It is no exaggeration to say that I lost the sense of purpose I had within me.

My children are important. Butmy children and I are separate individuals.
I cannot maintain myself unless I find a way to be true to myself while supporting my children.

To move forward, instead of clinging to what I had, I decided to reform my consciousness and search formy own strengthsthat were different from before.

(Perhaps they aren't big things, but small things lying unexpectedly close by.)

Thinking this way, I realized that the 40s are a time when the experience you have built uptakes on a certain shapeand becomes visible.

Strengths I have had until now

As a medical professional, I already hold a national qualification. If I provide my skills and work every day, I get paid.
However, having a qualification and being a person who can work are different things. That is the same in any society, isn't it?

The abilities I acquired led to shortening the time needed for task resolution in my own work, and as a result, secured time for myself.

Strengths I recently unearthed

From the sudden surprise of being entrusted with an in-house project, I learned even more about my strengths. It is a new side of myself that was unearthed by overlapping my 20-year career with my connections to people.

By experiencing taking action in a completely different way than before, I was able to touch upon parts of myself I hadn't even noticed. I was able to discover a new side of myself and experience what it means to find fulfillment in work.

A child refusing school in their early elementary years is a shock beyond imagination. I had never doubted that as long as I could manage with my own head and body, I would be able to continue working at the same job for another 20 years. It was a shock that instantly blew away such thoughts.


《Having no choice but to abandon my work fulfillment》
Once it came to this, it was time for a change in direction. When I shifted my perspective, I began to think of this as an opportunity. This is a chance to
acquire a second career


. I might be able to become a person capable of two different ways of working. It is a gift from my child, right in the middle of my life in my 40s.

A sub-career that can adapt to change

Technical jobs cannot be done via telework. They are jobs where you use your own hands, go to the site, and work. Beyond just school refusal, what if I were in a situation where I couldn't work outside due to an accident or illness? What if I had to be at home to care for parents or family? How can I continue to live while working after retirement?

It is better to have acquired another form of working. If it were possible, it would have been nice to study for a side job while doing my main job, allowing me to acquire skills slowly and steadily.

In my case, my previous workplace did not allow side jobs. So, rather than staying in a half-hearted situation, I chose to resign and decided to challenge myself with diverse ways of working.

You never know until you try everything, and you won't see a new side of yourself otherwise, right?

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world and society have changed, and those changes shouldn't all be bad. Telework systems have been established, and the types of work-from-home jobs have increased. Which one suits me, and which one can I enjoy working on? Web writing or Kindle book publishing. Community cafeterias or volunteering. The world is full of interesting things. My movement didn't stop because of my child's school refusal; I was given a

chance to start moving in a new way


. I feel that from the bottom of my heart right now.