I've been reading the stories of others on this board and one overwhelming feeling I get is feeling like a failure. I know I'm not a failure, and neither are you.

15 Comments

1. MurielNovember 12,2025 at 3:19PM UTC

   I feel the same way.im 53 going through same thing so tired of working. I made bad decisions with ceerer past .but I no God having brought us this for to leave us. We have stick together come with something for us 50 year old on up.

2. Debbie CreeNovember 12,2025 at 4:20PM UTC

   No, you are not alone. Positive vibes that we all get the jobs we want and the pay we deserve. :-)

3. AnonymousNovember 12,2025 at 5:45PM UTC

   You are correct. We’ve all bought into the illusion that there is a clear path to success in the workplace. But it’s really not true anymore. Even making big relationship connections doesn’t guarantee steady employment or that those relationships will last beyond the job. Ageism is a thing but it works both ways. Some companies only want to hire us older folks especially for c suite admin jobs. Less tatoos and attitude. We know how to talk

   to everyone at all levels and show up. Younger folks are great, tech savvy and smarter than I was at their age and they don’t buy into a lot of the BS that has driven our careers!

4. BethanyNovember 13,2025 at 12:30AM UTC

   Thank you for writing this. I've been searching for a job for almost a year. The few interviews I've had were through connections, but I wasn't hired, which makes it sting all the more. What’s so alarming isn’t just the economy and unemployment rate, but also that so many unemployed people seem to be women who are on the edge of, or just over, the age of 50.

5. Lorraine StaffordNovember 13,2025 at 3:40AM UTC

   Keep the faith - you will find something. In the meantime , I am sending out good vibes that we are all here for one another.

6. TiffanyNovember 13,2025 at 1:24PM UTC

   I am in that exact same boat with you. We have to help each other, there is no other way around it as far as I can tell.

7. Kerry RoperNovember 13,2025 at 6:48PM UTC

   Get off social media, you will thank yourself. Get off processed foods, your body will thank you. Get off the news teat, your emotional wellness will thank you. The goal of the internet is to sell sell sell, and to keep your eyeballs on whatever it is they are selling. It IS an advertising medium. Facebook is the ultimate one. They sell every single piece of info about you to warehouses of data, who then organize the data and sell it out to advertisers, who then sell that to health providers, product manufacturers, and so on. We dont even educate our kids about this? Why? To continue the constant stream of consumers into the marketplace. New car, new house, new job, new shoes, new diet, new clothes, new boyfriend, new husband, new wedding, new new new new. WHY? Because advertisers have been doing this since the late 1800s, telling you that your life is NOT complete without this one specific THING, and we have been trained to beleieve it, 100 percent! They are very VERY good at their job! Women are as likely as men to fall prey, but we are supposed to be the smarter of the race, lets be smarter, and ACT smarter, and therefore BUY smarter.

8. ArynNovember 14,2025 at 2:38PM UTC

   I sincerely thank you, feels good to know I’m not in the boat alone - stay strong!!

9. AnonymousNovember 14,2025 at 7:53PM UTC

   I often feel this way at 61. I'm in HR and it feels like you are under the microscope all the time. I'm getting sick of my mgr rewriting simple emails. I'm too wordy - keep it simple. I agree on some points but I hate when someone sends me something and then I have to figure out all the nuances that could have been shared.

10. TriciaNovember 15,2025 at 4:45PM UTC

    I ? agree. I read some stories on here and even though they are different, we deal with the same things. This year I just started over in a new industry due to me only getting contract jobs from my last job. A couple of years ago I was let go from my corporate job as a Technical trainer and it took me 8 months to find a job! 8! I dwindled down my savings, I haven’t had a vacation in years besides visiting my Mom over a long holiday weekend and contract jobs were all that I could get. I liked the diversity and learning new things but every 8 to 12 months I was starting over again, with me only being the income (no spouse/SO, no kids, just my cat &dog) I had only me to count on. I felt the strain, stress, depression and anxiety of not getting the job. Going through numerous interviews, creating presentations and doing whatever I needed to do to get recognized out of hundreds if not more applications.

    Now dealing with a new industry, new lingual, starting from the bottom up has been hard. No one said it was going to be easy at 48 but no one said how emotional it could be either. Trying to find where you fit in best, realizing that alot of your talents aren’t even acknowledged or almost like you were underestimated in a way.

    Ugh… hang in there ladies! Try living life day to day and be your best self. Even if you have to do that hour by hour, don’t be hard on yourselves. We will get through this… it’s gonna be hard. There might be tears or lots of tears, but as women, we got this!! Stay positive, don’t give up and be kind to yourself and to others. ??

11. Abbie ZulloNovember 19,2025 at 3:40PM UTC

    Sometimes it's hard not to feel that way. I'm 54, lost my eldest son last year to cancer, then was laid off from my job less than a year later. I know I'm competent at what I do, but I was promoted to a management level based on my work ethics and how I treated people around me rather than on the skills my employees used. And now I'm not "qualified" because everyone wants those skills as backup if someone is out.

12. Elizabeth Stiles WestNovember 20,2025 at 2:29AM UTC

    So sorry for the loss of your son. You could do without the mistreatment at work. I hope you find an employer who appreciates you and compensates you accordingly.

13. AnonymousNovember 20,2025 at 9:46PM UTC

    Thank you for posting. Something I needed to hear.

14. AnonymousNovember 21,2025 at 12:02AM UTC

    This is a supportive environment. You are starting in a new direction at 53 so that is far from being a failure! It takes strength to change in new directions. Hang in there!

15. AnonymousNovember 22,2025 at 8:25PM UTC

    Whether it's Facebook, Fairygodboss or X, understand they validate you but also amplify the stress. Dip for few minutes and don't doom scroll.