中年轉行,如何開始一份文藝工作

I meet Reny Morsch in her tutor’s office at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in central London, where she is studying to become a costume maker for film and theatre. She is dressed in black, with her blonde hair dip-dyed blue, and we are surrounded by overflowing boxes of accessories, bracelets and earrings: one is labelled “sparkly bits”, another “bits and bobs”.

在位於倫敦市中心的皇家戲劇學院(Royal Academy of Dramatic Art)，我見到了雷尼?莫爾希(Reny Morsch)，她在這裏學習電影和戲劇服裝製作。見面地點在她導師的辦公室，她穿着一身黑，金髮染成了藍色。我們站在一大堆箱子中間，箱子裏堆滿了飾品、手鐲和耳環。有個箱子上的標籤寫着“亮晶晶的小玩意”，另一個上面貼着“零零碎碎”。

Ms Morsch is one of five people the Financial Times is following over a year as they make a mid-life career switch.

英國《金融時報》對5位中年轉行者進行了爲期一年的追蹤，莫爾希便是其中一位。

This glittery, organised chaos is a very different work environment to the financial world where Ms Morsch worked for more than 30 years. When she originally embarked on a banking career, it was a “solid profession?.?.?.?that’s what my parents thought.” First, she worked in Frankfurt as a forex trader and then for Deutsche B?rse in London.

這個閃閃發光、亂中有序的工作環境與莫爾希工作了30多年的金融界截然不同。當她最初步入銀行業時，這是一個“穩定的職業……我父母就希望這個。”她一開始是在法蘭克福擔任外匯交易員，後來就職於德意志交易所(Deutsche B?rse)，在倫敦工作。

Her postgraduate course at Rada finishes in the summer and Ms Morsch hopes it will equip her with the skills to switch to the creative industries. It is a big leap from the relative security of regular salaries and bonuses to freelance work and reduced earnings. Moreover, at 51, she will be competing with younger peers for paid gigs.

莫爾希在皇家戲劇學院的研究生課程將於今年夏季結束，她希望從中掌握投身創意行業所需的技能。這是一次重大飛躍，她從有固定收入和獎金、相對安穩的職業，轉向了薪資較少的自由職業。更重要的是，她將以51歲之齡與年輕同行們競爭有償工作。

While the risks are clear — and Ms Morsch has considered them all, at length — she is making a transition to a creative career that those trapped at their desks may envy.

儘管風險顯而易見，莫爾希也全面考慮了上述所有問題，但她還是選擇轉行做創意工作——一個可能會讓那些困在辦公桌前的人羨慕不已的職業。

The switch has turned costume-making, something she describes as once a “passionate hobby”, into a career. And it means she no longer suffers that common mid-life paralysis of indecision over which career path to take next.

莫爾希說服裝製作曾是她的一個“充滿激情的愛好”，而轉行將把她的愛好變成一份職業。而且這意味着她再也不會陷入常見的中年彷徨：不知道接下來該選擇哪條職業道路。