Laid Off at 57, “The Plan” Fell Apart: Let's Go There
When “restructuring” pulls the rug out, what’s next? A grounded look at how to exercise your options when the career you counted on doesn't take you to the finish line.
Let’s Go There is a candid, question-led column where we unpack the real stuff behind remote work, solo travel, and midlife reinvention. No filters… just honest answers to the questions you’ve been carrying around.
This question comes from Walter in Alberta, Canada:
“I was laid off at 57, after 30 years in the industry (25 at this company).
They called it restructuring. I call it a betrayal.
How do you reinvent yourself at this age when you thought you were on track to coast into retirement?”
Getting laid off later in life hits differently. Not just because of the income, but because you thought you were far enough along that you didn’t have to worry about this anymore.
You did the work. You stayed consistent. You built something that was supposed to carry you through.
You weren’t trying to reinvent yourself. You were trying to finish strong.
And maybe, on paper, it looked like you still had time. A few more good years. A bit more saved. A smoother path into whatever came next.
But life doesn’t tend to cooperate with those timelines.
Things come up. Health issues. Family needs. Unexpected expenses that aren’t optional. The kind of things that quietly eat into the cushion you thought you had.
So when the job disappears, it doesn’t just feel like a disruption. It forces everything into the present. What was supposed to be a gradual transition suddenly isn’t.
Of course your first instinct is to replace it. Find something similar. Get back to where you were.
And sometimes that works.
But if it doesn’t — or if the idea of going back into the same kind of role feels heavier than it used to — it might be worth stepping back for a moment and looking at what you’ve built in a different way.
I’m not talking about your job title, or the official scope of your role.
What you actually know how to do.
What people trusted you with. What you handled without needing much direction. What got easier, faster, or more stable because you were there.
That part didn’t disappear. It’s just been tied to a structure you’re no longer inside.
You don’t need to solve everything right now, and you don’t need a five-year plan. You need one direction that makes sense.
One way to test whether your experience still has value outside of someone else’s company.
It usually does… in fact, what you already know may be far more valuable outside of the dollar-per-hour value exchange of traditional employment.
The challenge is seeing it without the job wrapped around it.
And you don’t have to stop looking for a job; in fact, you probably shouldn’t.
But you also owe it to yourself to start building a bit more flexibility into how you earn.
If you end up taking something lower-paying just to get stable again, having even a small side stream can help bridge that gap.
Over time, you might find it grows into something more. You might even replace your income.
But you won’t know unless you try.
If you’re in that in-between, it’s worth asking: What do I already know how to do that someone else would still pay for?
And before you go telling yourself, “I’m not an entrepreneur, I could never run a business…”
Take a breath.
That’s not actually what this moment is asking of you. You’re not being asked to become a different person overnight.
You’re being asked to look at what you already know how to do, and consider whether there’s a way to offer it outside of a system that used to package and sell it for you.
That might look like consulting. It might look like small freelance projects.
It might be something as simple as helping a business fix a problem you’ve already solved dozens of times before.
It doesn’t have to be big. It doesn’t have to be permanent.
It just has to be real enough to try.
So listen — you didn’t expect to be here at this point in your life, and that sucks.
But you’re not starting from nothing, either. And you’re probably not even that far off from something workable. Start with these next steps and see how you make out:
✌🏻 Miranda
P.S. Have a burning question about remote work or nomad life, particularly in your 40s and beyond? Submit to hello@midlifenomads.com and I’ll do my best.
That happened to me at 54, a single mom with two kids in college and footing all the bills. I rented out rooms in my house for extra income, took a consulting gig, and worked part-time at a wildlife sanctuary, and applied for 250 positions similar to the high paying position I had previously held. But every time I thought about returning to the stress of that environment I felt sick. My sons took out loans. Renting rooms worked well in providing additional revenue streams. I moved up in responsibility at the wildlife sanctuary, and even though it was still part time, and low-paying, I had health insurance and was learning lots about ecosystems etc. So I pulled from my retirement IRA as necessary, and we made it through. And my job at the wildlife sanctuary is the best job I have ever had.