I heard a still small voice within say, “You’re made for more.”
I was driving back from adjudicating a dance festival in 2016, the familiar rhythm of highway lines blurring past my window, when something shifted. Not the usual post-project high or even the welcomed exhaustion of a job well done. This was different—just that quiet but insistent voice I’d just heard.
It was October, just two months into what should have been an exciting semester as an adjunct dance professor. But for the first time in my career, I wasn't looking forward to the semester. The choreographic opportunities that once thrilled me felt routine. The twelve-hour days that had once energized me now felt draining. Most unsettling of all, I found myself thinking about things that had never mattered before: owning a home I truly loved, imagining a different kind of future, questioning whether this path would still serve the person I was becoming.
"I went in a couple of weeks later and gave notice," I told Arielle Deane during our conversation on her podcast, The Independent Mom. "The rest is history. All I can say is I was ready for more but didn't necessarily know what the “more” was."
What happened next would challenge everything I thought I knew about career transitions. Because I didn't start over, I started fresh—and there's a profound difference between the two.
The Myth of Starting Over
Most of us approach career transitions like demolition projects. We imagine ourselves stripping away everything we've built, every skill we've honed, every connection we've made, and starting over from ground zero. It's an exhausting prospect that keeps many talented professionals trapped in unfulfilling roles, paralyzed by the thought of “throwing it all away."
But my story uncovers a different path altogether. Within five and a half years of leaving my dance career, I had earned six promotions in the corporate career services world, authored multiple books, and built influence within professional development communities.
So you see. I didn't abandon my past—I alchemized it.
"The essence of starting fresh without starting over is you cannot leave yourself behind," I explained to Arielle. "Leaving yourself behind is starting over. But starting fresh is taking with you all of your experiences, every part of who you are, and redefining it according to what you're going towards next."
The Signs of Readiness
Before we explore how to make this kind of transition, we need to recognize when it's time. Through my own experience and my work with clients, I've identified several key indicators that go beyond typical job dissatisfaction:
>> Sustained apathy or irritation. "If you're feeling apathetic, not motivated, or even annoyed for months—not just a bad week—that's a signal," I tell my clients. When you find yourself responding to routine requests with internal eye-rolls or feeling cranky about work that once energized you, your inner knowing is telling you something important.
>> Misalignment with growth. Are you being passed over for promotions? Feeling stifled or boxed in? These are indicators that your current environment no longer accommodates who you're becoming.
>> Values evolution. Maybe most importantly, when your current work no longer represents who you want to become, it's time to pay attention. "At baseline, if where you are right now is no longer a representation of who you’re destined to be, it's time to start making steps towards the next version."
With those signs in mind, here are a few next steps to help you approach your pivot.
Starting Fresh Hack #1: Translate your transferable skills.
The secret to starting fresh lies in translation—not abandoning your skills and experiences, but finding new contexts where they can flourish. When I transitioned from dance to workforce development, I didn't hide my background; I highlighted it.
"My ability to work with teams and build chemistry for a final product, my adaptability, my hustle—literally so many things from my dance career. All of that helped me to thrive," I reflected during our conversation.
This translation process calls for creativity and self-awareness. It means identifying the through-lines in your work—the core skills, values, and approaches that transcend industry boundaries. For me, this included my natural mentoring abilities, my writing for dance publications, and my passion for helping creatives build sustainable careers.
Starting Fresh Hack #2: Honor your values first.
Consider a more intentional approach to your pivot that honors who you really are. Instead of asking "What jobs are available?" ask "How do I want to feel when I'm working?"
"When I say values, I mean, what are the things that are most important to you?" I explain to clients facing similar transitions. "Tell me what that work looks like. What type of freedom, what type of flexibility do you imagine?"
For me, this meant non-negotiables like working from home and maintaining creative freedom. Rather than compromising these core needs, I made them requirements, ultimately landing at a tech startup that offered the flexibility and innovative culture I craved.
Starting Fresh Hack #3: Follow your internal guidance.
That values-first approach requires something many of us have been trained to suppress: trusting our intuition. "We spend so much time in our thoughts and trying to guide our life from up here," I explained, gesturing to my head, "when really we need to let it come from a deeper place within us."
This isn't about making impulsive decisions. It's about honoring the deeper wisdom that emerges when we align our external choices with our internal truth.
Starting Fresh Hack #4: Think outside the box.
One of the most limiting beliefs about career change is that you have to choose between traditional employment and entrepreneurship. The truth is both employment and working independently can look a myriad of ways.
"Your body of work is just that—it can look like so many things," I explain to those considering similar paths. This might mean traditional W-2 employment, freelancing, consulting, building a business, or any combination thereof.
The key is designing work that serves your values and allows you to show up as your authentic self while meeting your practical needs.
Your Fresh Start
Wherever you are in your professional journey, I invite you to consider your own relationship with change. What aspects of your current work energize you? What feels misaligned? What would you like to feel when you're working?
Remember, the goal isn't to abandon everything you've built, but to honor it while creating space for who you're becoming. It's about trusting that your experiences, skills, and insights are valuable assets, not burdens to shed.
You can literally have the career of your dreams. You just have to be clear on what the “what” is. Then, you've got to give yourself permission to go after it.
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