How to Bounce Back in Your Career After a Major Life Event

At some point in your career, life will throw you unexpected challenges such as a serious illness of a loved one or yourself. The impact can range from minor disruptions to life-altering shifts. It will inevitably affect your career, your confidence, and your sense of stability.

When something big happens, you do what you have to do in the moment. You’re in survival mode, juggling everything at once. Eventually, the chaos settles. Life begins to feel a bit more normal again. You start finding your rhythm with more time to reflect. You might think about picking up where you left off.

But where was that, exactly?

Can you go back?

Do you even want to?

The answer? It depends—on a lot of things.

But what if there’s a better approach than simply going back?

What if this moment is an invitation—not just to recover, but to reflect?

To redefine what success means to you now?

To move forward with the life event, not despite it?

Chances are, you’ve grown in ways you didn’t expect through a significant life event. Maybe you had to become more patient. Maybe you have become more organized or improved your time management.

Maybe your priorities have shifted. You might now value time with family more. You may crave better work/life balance. You might even realize… you never loved your job in the first place!

I experienced this turning point myself. In 2010, I invited my father to move in with my young family while he was being treated for lung cancer at Mass General in Boston. At the time, I was a VP at Fidelity Investments, raising two kids aged 4 and 6, and managing my father’s care. It was the hardest period of my life. Within a year, my father passed away.

I could have returned to life as it was. But it didn’t feel right. I wasn’t the same person anymore.

At work, I felt like I was running in third gear. I was outsourcing parenting to a nanny. I was living for the weekends and just getting through the weekdays. I knew I didn’t want to live like that anymore. Eventually, I made a complete career transition and started my own coaching business—something that aligned with who I had become and how I now defined success.

So what if, instead of aiming to “bounce back,” you took this opportunity to ask yourself:

What does success mean to me now?

The Old Metrics Might Not Fit Anymore

Many of us have spent our careers chasing traditional markers of success: titles, promotions, salary.

And while there’s nothing wrong with those goals, they’re not the whole story—especially after a major life disruption. Suddenly, the old metrics can feel… off.

Success may still matter deeply. But your definition of it might need to evolve.

Redefining Success Might Look Like:

• Choosing impact over image

• Measuring value by fulfillment, not just output

• Leading with integrity instead of urgency

• Saying no—even to good things—to protect your best things

Ask Yourself:

• What truly motivates me right now? How has that changed since the unexpected event?

• How should my boundaries shift? What am I no longer willing to sacrifice?

• What would success look like if it aligned with my values—not just a title or a paycheck?

• This isn’t about scaling back your ambition—it’s about aiming it in a direction that reflects who you’ve become.

You’re not starting over.

You’re starting smarter.