Aging with Purpose and Passion

Burnout, Reinvention, and a New Encore After 50

• Beverley Glazer • Episode 140

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What if your dream career starts to destroy your well-being?
Caroline Dowd-Higgins went from celebrated opera singer to burnout survivor—then rebuilt a new life of purpose, passion, and leadership after 50.

In this episode of Aging With Purpose and Passion, we explore what happens when success stops working for you—and how to step into reinvention with clarity, courage, and joy.

Caroline’s story is one of reinvention after burnout. Her award-winning opera career demanded perfection. But behind the curtain, she was unraveling. The highs of performance came with a steep cost—financial instability, burnout, and a deep sense of misalignment. So she walked away. And started over.

💥 The turning point? Realizing that burnout is a workplace issue, not a self-care issue. As she puts it, “You can’t yoga your way out of systemic burnout.” That insight changed everything.

Caroline’s “diva training” became the foundation for her second act: using the leadership, presence, and emotional intelligence she developed onstage to coach, consult, and inspire high-performing women. Today, she helps others reframe perfectionism, reclaim confidence, and thrive without burning out.

🧠 In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • The truth about burnout (and why high performers don’t see it coming)
  • Why perfectionism is the enemy of reinvention
  • How Caroline shifted from overachiever to high achiever with boundaries
  • What midlife women can do right now to stop settling and start living fully

🎙 Hosted by Beverley Glazer, a leading midlife reinvention expert, this episode is a must-listen for women over 50 navigating career change, burnout recovery, or personal transformation.

🔹 Want more?
Download the free guide: From Stuck to Unstoppable
Your next chapter starts with one small step.

🔗 Resources & Links

To hear similar stories on letting go of a dream and reinvention after 50 check out episode #112 and #132 of Aging With Purpose And Passion and If you enjoy this podcast, I recommend  "Older Women & Friends" with award-winning host Jane Leder.  "Older Women & Friends" is a podcast that sets the record straight, dispels the myths, explores the many contributions older women make, and the wisdom they have earned and are anxious to share.

Connect with Caroline Dowd-Higgins:
📧 caroline@carolinedowdhiggins.com
🌐 Website | Podcast
🔗 Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

Connect with Beverley Glazer:
🌐 Website
🔗 LinkedIn | Facebook |

Send us a text

🎁 BONUS: Take your first step to clarity, courage and momentum. Your free checklist: → From Stuck to Unstoppable – is here.
https://reinvent-impossible.aweb.page/from-stuck-to-unstoppable

Have feedback or a powerful story that's worth telling? Contact us at info@Reinventimpossible.com

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Aging with Purpose and Passion, the podcast designed to inspire your greatness and thrive through life. Get ready to conquer your fears. Here's your host psychotherapist, coach and empowerment expert, Beverley Glazer.

Beverley Glazer:

What happens when the curtain drops on your dreams and you're left with burnout and no direction forward? Welcome to Aging with Purpose and Passion, the podcast for women over 50 who are ready to stop settling and live life on their own terms. Each week, you'll hear raw conversations, inspiring stories and get practical tools to help you reignite your own fire. I'm Beverley Glazer, a reinvention catalyst for women who are ready to keep raising the bar, and you can find me on reinventedpossiblecom. Caroline Dowd-Higgins was a celebrated opera singer who suffered burnout and had to change her career. She's an executive coach and a sought-after speaker, empowering high-performing women to thrive in today's fast-paced work environment. She's the host of the podcast your Working Life. She's the best-selling author and a global speaker who teaches high-achieving women how to lead without losing themselves in the mix. If you're always the strong one and you're running on empty, keep listening. This one is for you. Hi Caroline, let me ask you when you first were growing up, were you always a high achiever? Were you always a perfectionist?

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Yes, definitely. I'm the oldest of three siblings, so I think that pecking order often is relatable to a lot of your listeners. You know the first child. Their role models are adults, because there aren't any other kids, at least in the family, at that time. So, yes, I absolutely was.

Beverley Glazer:

And were you a musical family? Everyone is singing around the piano.

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Yes, we were a musical family in that we appreciated it. I grew up in New York and New Jersey, so we'd go to Broadway for special occasions and see a wonderful musical or a play, and we were deeply ensconced in the arts in our community. But my singing experience really started in my local church where my family attended, and I started in the children's choir and it all started from there.

Beverley Glazer:

And so obviously you had a love for music and singing.

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

I did, I did, I absolutely did. And you know funny story when I was a child probably between 10 and 12, I was in the children's choir at church, but I was very loud and I was also singing an octave higher than all the other kids. So the choir director very gently and delicately said to my parents I think I need to put her in the adult choir because she's a bit disruptive with the kiddos. And it was one of the best things, because I really learned to come into my voice and I learned classical repertoire and I discovered opera, which is something that my family really didn't know about. So it was a lovely opportunity to learn about this incredible genre.

Beverley Glazer:

Sure, and you were in New York, you could go to Carnegie Hall. Did you listen to those opera singers over there? I did, yeah, I did.

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

There was a Sunday afternoon podcast it wasn't a podcast, excuse me, it was a radio program of the Metropolitan Opera and it was such a joy to be able to listen to those singers. I started getting recordings and I remember it was such a magical time because I discovered a repertoire that really fit me like a glove and then went on to university and earned an undergrad and a master's in music and it all took off from there.

Beverley Glazer:

Right, and so you went into performance.

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

I did, I did.

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

And performance can be rigorous oh, it's your art. Yeah, it was incredibly rigorous. It's similar to professional athletes. But I will tell you, Beverly, that it's also wonderful when you think about the performing arts, in how they honor the health and the mental well-being of their people, whether they're on stage or they're in the production realm or they're working in marketing. Because the reality is we can't perform if we're not in good health. If I was sick, I couldn't sing, which means that I couldn't earn money. They would have to bring in an understudy. So I do believe the performing arts is really wonderful and that they celebrate health and well-being of their employees.

Beverley Glazer:

Yes, and you're also on the road. You're traveling with the group it's you know there's pressure on many different levels. Did you ever feel that?

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Well, certainly, yeah, there's no doubt it is. It's a hard life, it is rigorous, and when you're not performing, you're practicing, you're rehearsing, you're taking voice lessons. So there's a lot to do. But conversely I just want to set this up because my burnout happened when I transitioned into the corporate and the nonprofit world, which was very, very different. So I fondly remember the Performing Arts Days as a sector of the workforce that really celebrated well-being.

Beverley Glazer:

Great, and so there must have been a conflict there.

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

There absolutely was. You know, and I'll tell you first, it was mentally debilitating to think I'm leaving this profession that I absolutely love. There was a feast or famine mindset, and I'll tell you, some of the time it was great. I was earning money and absolutely loved it, felt at the top of my game. And then other times it was really scarce and I was worried about my finances. Traveling internationally and that roller coaster was something that really didn't honor my values. So I transitioned and it was tough emotionally but at the end of the day it was the right move and I can fondly look back at that and say I'm still an opera singer.

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

It's my avocation, it's not my vocation. Do you miss it? I do miss it and I think one of the reasons why I enjoy being a public speaker is I love being on stage, and it's not so much the ego of being on stage as a performer, but it's the opportunity to make a difference with an audience full of people, whether it is letting them listen to an opera and enjoy that escape or sharing a message. That's really valuable as a speaker.

Beverley Glazer:

How did you go through that burnout? Were there any signs? Did you see anything?

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Yeah. So the burnout happened when I transitioned to what I would call the corporate and the nonprofit world. And because I'm a high achiever and I have this tendency to always go above and beyond, I started to do that all the time and I didn't set my own boundaries. And I'll tell you, I alone am responsible for my burnout. I am not blaming or shaming anyone. But, beverly, I think you might agree with me that there are some organizations, some bosses that see the workhorse and say great, let's put her in, she's going to burn the candle at both ends. She's constantly going to work. That's how she's made. That's part of her DNA. So I learned that I have to be really careful not to be exploited by people that see the overachievers coming. And I'll tell you, I reframed overachieving to high achieving, so I can give myself permission to take some breaks.

Beverley Glazer:

Mm-hmm. It comes to a point where you have to do that, oh yeah, but it's so very hard to do, particularly when you're highly compensated in the workplace. Workaholism is something that we look up to. My goodness, she was working. Look at that, yes, but no life. But look at the salary that she has. You know it's commendable, and so it's hard to step down from that. And, as you did mention, you know it's golden handcuffs. We're tied to that and then we do burn out. Our body knows, our mind knows. But when you've given your all to something that's so hard to make a switch. And when I'm thinking opera to now the corporate world.

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Yeah, so one of the things that I learned burnout is a workplace issue, it's not a self-care issue. And one of the thought leaders that I really admire is a woman by the name of Paula Davis, and she is the CEO and founder of the Stress and Resilience Institute, and she has this brilliant quote and I want to honor her because it's her quote you can't yoga your way out of burnout. And she absolutely nailed it.

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Now take the yoga class, meditate, take the massage, have the glass of wine at night whatever makes you feel better and whatever's part of your self-care routine, but that is not going to mitigate burnout. Burnout is an imbalance in work and the humans involved in accomplishing that work, and that is often really unrealistic and untenable and unsustainable long term. And that's where we, the overachievers, get into trouble, because we don't know how to calculate or calibrate and we're constantly on fast forward. Thus the burnout.

Beverley Glazer:

Yes, and it's so important to learn how to change your mindset, because it's all about the way we think and the letting go process. You could say do it, but it's one thing to say it and another thing to do it.

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

I agree. But here's something that really excited me in the burnout process and, beverly, I had to do the research. I had to really understand what caused burnout because, like so many and I'm not criticizing or chastising, I'm just saying it took me a while to understand this. I thought, okay, take the yoga class right, you know, take the half day and you'll feel better. Maybe you'll catch up a little bit on your sleep or your rest. But it's not a long-term strategy and what I discovered was, when I was overworked and overwhelmed, I wasn't actually doing my best work. So in order to do extraordinary work, we need to be well rested and healthy and well and have that mental space to be creative.

Beverley Glazer:

Absolutely agree. How much does your opera training help you in your leadership?

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Oh so much. My mom chuckles because she says your diva training really helped you in so many ways, and she's right. She's right and in all fairness, I'd like to think of myself as a positive diva, like Glinda the Good Witch. Right, it's not negative diva, but here's what I learned you learn how to communicate well. You learn how to have what is now executive presence. It's also stage presence. You also learn how to listen and follow directions. You learn how to listen and follow directions. You learn how to solve problems in real time. You learn how to be part of a team and when you step forward as a soloist and when you step back and let other people lead. So it was tremendously helpful for me as a leader and I still rely on those lessons today.

Beverley Glazer:

Yes, yes, those are life lessons and we end up learning them, sometimes the hard way. Yeah, but how did you let go of your own perfectionism?

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Yeah, you know, I finally got to the place where I adopted the concept of good enough to go, and I think that happened. I've written two books now and every author out there would. There's probably one mistake, if not more, in the book that some editor didn't catch, and that's okay because we're human. So I don't ever want perfection to be the enemy of the good, and I also give myself the grace and space to know hey, we can keep iterating, we can keep evolving, but don't not get something out there because you're wanting it to be perfect. Frankly, there is no perfect. I subscribe to the concept of brave, not perfect.

Beverley Glazer:

Yeah, good, I like that. Why do you think that so many talented women, so many terrific accomplished women resist getting help?

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Yeah, you know it's interesting. I'm writing a blog post today actually about that very thing we believe, or I did believe that I've got to do it myself, right. But what I learned is that smart leaders and smart people period ask for help and that's why they're smart. It's not a sign of weakness to ask for help. Frankly, it's really savvy to get out there and find your people, and it's also an opportunity to learn and grow and develop.

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

So once we can let go of that I have to do it all myself. The world opens up and great things happen when we come together and lean on the village and pay it forward and help someone else.

Beverley Glazer:

And what's your life like today, so much different than the way it was?

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

So much better. You know when, when I finally got off the burn mount treadmill, it probably took me a year to fully come into my own and and I don't I'm not saying that with any hyperbole, but all my senses were very different. I smelled things and I saw things that I just didn't see before. It was like there was a cloud or a fuzzy lens in front of things. So everything was vibrant and opened up and I relearned how to play and be still and enjoy downtime. You know, I took vacations when I was on burnout, but when I was burning out excuse me, but I certainly don't remember them I didn't enjoy them. You know, I missed the holidays, I missed all the fun things because I was tethered to my phone thinking about work Of course.

Beverley Glazer:

So what would you tell others? Other overachieving women, your message.

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Yeah, I'm glad you asked. So think about being an overachiever and how can you reframe that, which is what we do as coaches. We reframe something to see it in a different light and focus on being a high achiever. Do your best, work, but rest and recovery and rejuvenation isn't a reward, it's essential, it's a requirement. Think about it, whether you're the elite athlete or you're the opera singer, if you're sick, venus Williams is not playing tennis. Right, she's not going to be in her best game, and I get it. There are rollercoaster times of life when there's the deadline or the budget is due or the go live. That is always going to happen. I try not to use the word balance because it's never even keel, but when you have those intense sprints, make sure you give yourself the downtime to recover and recuperate.

Beverley Glazer:

Excellent, thank you. Carolyn Dowd-Higgins was a celebrated opera singer who suffered burnout and had to change her career. Today, she's an executive coach, a sought-after speaker and empowering high-performing people to thrive in today's fast-paced work environment. Carolyn hosts the podcast your Working Life. She's a best-selling author and a global speaker who teaches high-achieving women how to lead without losing themselves and running on empty. Here are a few takeaways from this episode.

Beverley Glazer:

Let burnout be a wake-up call. It's powerful to reinvent yourself. You don't have to be perfect to be impactful, and joy and fulfillment are essential, particularly in midlife and beyond. If this story sounds familiar, here are a few things that you could do for yourself right now. Ask yourself if something really needs to be perfect or just done with care, and let good enough be enough. Progress beats perfection every time. For similar episodes on letting go of a dream and reinventing yourself, check out episode 112 and 132 of Aging with Purpose and Passion. And if you love podcasts of older women, you may also enjoy Older Women and Friends with award-winning host Jane Leder. Jane takes a deep dive into the joys and challenges of being older. Older Women and Friends sets the record straight, dispels the myths and explores the contributions and wisdom that women have shared throughout the ages. That link is in the show notes too. So, Caroline, where can people find you, learn more about you? All your links online?

Caroline Dowd-Higgins:

Beverly. The easiest place is my website, which is carolyndowdhiggins. com. I'm very prolific in the LinkedIn space, Instagram, Facebook. I put a lot of content out into the world. As you mentioned, I have a podcast and I also have two books, and my great joy is sharing resources with people out in the world that will help them live happier and healthier lives.

Beverley Glazer:

All Caroline's links are in the show notes and they're on my site too. That's reinventimpossible. com. And so, my friends, what's next for you? Are you just going through the motions or are you living a life that you truly love? Get my free guide to go from stuck to unstoppable. And where do you think they are? They're in the show notes, too. You can connect with me, beverly Glazer, on all social media platforms and in my positive group of women on Facebook. That's Women Over 50 Rock, and thank you for listening. Have you enjoyed this conversation? Please subscribe and help us spread the word by dropping a review and sending this out to a friend. And remember you only have one life, so live it with purpose and passion.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for joining us. You can connect with Bev on her website, reinventimpossible. com and, while you're there, join our newsletter Subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Until next time, keep aging with purpose and passion and celebrate life.

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