Lifestyle

Go to Greg: Is it possible to switch careers when you’re over 40?

I’m a 48-year-old female currently working as a bookkeeper but I’m not happy in my job and would love to teach or go into another profession. I have a college degree and would go back to school if I knew I could get a job when I finished. Are there good career paths for someone my age? What occupations do you think will still be in demand in the future?

I completely understand your concern about your age. I mean, late 40s . . . pushing the big 5-0 . . . that’s scary. And pretty soon the AARP will send you membership material, and you’ll qualify for early bird dinner discounts.

Snap out of it! You’re 48 and fabulous. And the decision about whether to go back to school to get a degree can’t be made on the condition that you are guaranteed to get a job after graduation. You go back to school to get out of your rut, meet new people and learn new things. Most people change career paths multiple times during their lives. So what do you want to do? What’s going to make the next 48 even better than the first? As they say in the Nike ads, “Just do it!”

My employer won’t allow me to use an e-cigarette in the office, citing its no-smoking policy. But e-cigarettes don’t emit smoke — they emit vapor. I have a colleague who uses a humidifier in their office, and that is allowed. Why can’t I use something that is similar in the office?

Unless your colleague is filling their humidifier with nicotine, sucking on it and blowing the vapor out of their mouths, it really isn’t the same. The explosion in popularity of e-cigarettes is definitely challenging some conventions about smoking in public places and in the workplace. But here’s what I see when I look into my crystal ball: Everyone is going to get their nicotine fix — whether by smoking like a chimney or by vaping — with the same restrictions in the workplace that exist today. So rather than be a rebel and create a cloud of doubt around your priorities and cube, I wouldn’t be the poster child for worker’s e-cig rights.