Ask Anna: How can I resume my artistic profession in my 40s?
Dear Anna,
I would like to know how to restart myself as a creative in my 40s. A career in illustration has always been something I wanted to do and Covid-19 gave me the opportunity to pursue this – I retrained online through Falmouth Flex (and it was amazing, by the way). But how does this translate into a Covid crisis? What can I tell an employer or have as a USP?
Anon
Dear Anon,
In my experience, your 40s are the best decade – although I always hold back with "so far" because I've come so far myself! I think I feel this because, if you're lucky, you will have enough life experience to know what you really want, and so have the right combination of energy and risk taking that will enable you to make big changes. So it's nice to hear that you've embraced this through online retraining and are now trying to live your dream in illustration.
When asked how this is translated, I would say that it is entirely up to you. If there is a silver lining to the tremendous upheaval and uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic, everything needs to be rethought, reshaped and reinvented. Workplaces that used to be obsessed with presenterism now know that working from home can not only work well, but can also produce amazing results for the right people. Meetings where people were excluded because of their location or disability, for example, are now much more accessible as everyone has had to deal with video conferencing.
In my most optimistic moments, I like to think that the term “new normal” means that there is really no “normal” anymore. Because normative behavior and culture are inherently exclusive. They force people to assimilate rather than make room for difference – differences that can be of great benefit to any business, especially creative ones. In this regard, you start with what you want rather than what a company wants and have the opportunity to figure out how to fit into a particular career-oriented hole.