It's a topic that Jean says pops up more and more often in conversations with her friends and colleagues: making a midlife career change. Jean talks to Susan Crandell, author of Thinking About Tomorrow: Reinventing Yourself at Midlife, about the trend. The founding editor of More magazine, Susan says she left behind her 30-year career in the magazine industry to become a full-time freelance writer. Here are her tips for you, if you're feeling ready to reinvent yourself:

• What are you waiting for? Don't wait until it's too late—you never know what's around the bend. If you've been thinking about a change for some time, do it now.
• Trust yourself. You may be leaving one career, but have faith that you're replacing it with another.
• Admit that it's scary. It's normal to have fear about change—recognizing it, and even talking about it, will help smooth it over.
• Don't worry about what other people think. It can be a hard hurdle to cross, so if you can't get it out of your mind, then at least resolve not to let it stop you.