Versus Starting Over

Starting over is its own kind of hard, different from starting with nothing, because it usually comes after loss: a marriage, a job, a financial cushion, an identity built around a role that no longer exists. It often hits later in life, when the assumption was that the hardest chapters were already behind her.

The obstacle is not just practical, rebuilding finances or finding new work, it is also the work of deciding who she is now that the old plan is gone.

We tell these stories because starting over gets less cultural attention than starting from the bottom, even though it can be just as disorienting. Someone rebuilding at 40, 50, or 60 deserves to see that the second build can work too.