When I Quit My Job at 40 With No Backup Plan: A Story About Fear, Confidence, and Starting Over

I didn’t have a next job lined up. But I had myself.

At 40, I quit my job and moved my family halfway across the country. No fallback offer. No strategic roadmap. Just a feeling that where I was… wasn’t where I was meant to stay.

What’s wild is that I wasn’t panicking. The uncertainty was there, sure…but so was something steadier. A quiet confidence that I’d figure it out. That even if I didn’t know the next step, I knew myself.

We don’t talk enough about the internal permission it takes to change your life.

Everyone talks about confidence like it’s loud. Like it shows up in a boardroom or a big win. But when I look back, mine sounded more like this:

“I’ve done hard things before.”

“I’ll do the work.”

“This doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else.”

And that was enough to carry me forward.

The first few months were messy. But I didn’t fall apart.

We found a new rhythm in the unfamiliar. I took freelance gigs. I made mistakes. I had late-night worry spirals. But I never regretted the leap. Because the truth is, the old path had already ended. I just finally gave myself permission to stop pretending it hadn’t.

For anyone standing at the edge right now…

Maybe you're staring down a job loss. Or a shift that no longer fits. Or just the ache of knowing there’s more for you than this. Here’s what I want to say to you:

You’re not behind.

You’re not late.

You’re just choosing to live with your eyes open.

And that courage can bring you to your soft landing.

Maybe your next job title hasn’t come yet. Maybe the plan’s still blurry. But what if the first step isn’t clarity. Maybe it’s witnessing the moment you’re in?

That’s why I created Overcoming the Blank Page. Not as a fix. But as a practice in self-trust. In writing your way forward. In letting the page hold what you can’t name yet.

👉 Download the guide and begin writing your next chapter...even before it all makes sense.