Author: Alison Price – Published: October 2026

Pivoting Your Life

The Straight and Narrow

Life rarely follows the straight line we imagine when we are young.

You may start out with a particular idea of what your life will look like.

Perhaps you imagine a career, a home, a relationship, a family and a fairly predictable path forward.

Change

Then something changes.

You lose a job.

You move to another country.

A relationship ends.

Your children grow up.

You discover a new interest.

Your health or circumstances change.

You find yourself back at school.

Or perhaps something happens that makes you stop and ask: “Is this really what I want to be doing with my life?”

This is where the idea of pivoting comes in.

Podcast Episode

In a recent episode of the Starzology Astrology Podcast, Arwynne and I were joined by guest astrologer Sionainne, who happens to be Arwynne’s mother.

We talked about what it means to pivot your life, particularly later in life, and how sometimes what looks like a completely new direction is actually a return to something which has been a part of you all along.

Pivoting

A Change of Direction

A pivot is a change in direction.

It doesn’t necessarily mean throwing your whole life away and starting again, but sometimes it is a small adjustment that you can make.

At other times it can be a dramatic change in your career, education, relationships or your own living situation.

More Than Once

During your lifetime you may pivot more than once.

The world we live in today makes this increasingly common.

The idea that you train for one career in your twenties and remain in the same job until retirement seems increasingly distant for many people.

New industries appear.

Technology changes the workplace.

People retrain.

Contracts replace permanent employment.

Skills that were once considered essential become less important while entirely new skills emerge.

Not Just Work

But pivoting isn’t only about work.

You might pivot your lifestyle, your education, your relationships, your home or the way you spend your time and sometimes life makes the decision for you.

When Life Forces You to Change

Life Gets in the Way

Sionainne’s story is a powerful example which begins in 2018 when she experienced two major losses within a few weeks.

First, she was unexpectedly let go from the animal hospital she had been managing.

She had invested more than twenty-five years in veterinary medicine and animal rehabilitation and had even recently become a certified veterinary practice manager.

Then, less than a month later, her mother died.

Her mother’s death was particularly significant because they shared the same birthday and had been closely connected throughout their lives.

Suddenly Sionainne was facing a huge question of identity.

If the career she had invested so much of her life in was no longer there and her mother was gone, who was she now?

What Do I Want?

Instead of simply looking for another job in the same field, she began asking a much bigger question:

“What do I actually want to do with the rest of my life?”

Within a few months she was back at community college, returning to education and exploring what came next.

A Pivot Can Take You Back to Yourself

Lean Towards What You Love

One of the things I found most interesting about Sionainne’s story is that her pivot wasn’t really about learning a new skill so she could become more employable, but it was about bringing together the things she had always loved.

Dance
Nature
Movement
Teaching
Wildlife
Environmental work
Communication
Social change

She eventually completed a bachelor’s degree combining dance, nature and healing and went on to doctoral studies.

Her current interests explore movement, communication, environmental restoration and social change.

So, although this looks like a completely different direction from managing an animal hospital, there is actually a silk thread running through the whole story which is that:

The work is about transformation
It is about communication
It is about helping people and creating change

Her pivot did not erase her previous life, but rather it brought together the pieces of it towards a cohesive whole.

Life Experience Remains

Build on Your Foundations

This is an important part of pivoting, especially when it happens later in life.

You don’t start again from zero, what really happens is that you take everything you’ve learned with you.

Your previous jobs, relationships, education, mistakes, interests, disappointments and successes all become part of your experience.

Sionainne’s earlier work in veterinary medicine had already taught her about wellbeing, communication, caring for others and the difficulties people experience in demanding environments.

She had also spent much of her life teaching and dancing.

Those experiences didn’t become irrelevant when she changed direction.

They became part of the foundation for what she is doing now.

This is one reason why a later-life pivot can be so interesting. You have decades of experience to draw upon.

You may finally be able to see connections between things that seemed unrelated when you were younger.

The Astrology of a Pivot

Your Chart

Naturally, we wanted to bring the conversation back to astrology.

One of the questions we explored was whether a significant life pivot might show up in the birth chart through transits, progressions or other timing techniques.

In Sionainne’s case, we didn’t have the exact astrological timing worked out during the conversation, so we couldn’t point to one particular transit and say, “This is it.”

However, her natal chart contains some fascinating symbolism that relates to the direction she has eventually taken.

Sionainne has four planets in Libra, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Neptune.

These planets are all connected with her fifth house and Libra themes of balance, beauty, creativity and justice.

That combination fits remarkably well with her lifelong relationship with dance and art as well as her interest in social and environmental justice.

For Sionainne, beauty isn’t simply about something being attractive.

She sees beauty as connected with truth, balance, meaning and communication.

That is particularly interesting when you consider her belief that art can be a powerful way of communicating ideas and encouraging people to see the world differently.

Art as a Way of Creating Change

That Which Moves You

One of the most fascinating parts of our conversation was the idea that people don’t always change because they have been given more information.

Sometimes they change because they have been moved by something for example:

A story
An image
A dance
A piece of music
A film
A work of art

Arwynne talked about the importance of storytelling and referred to the prehistoric cave paintings as an example of how humans have used art to communicate and make meaning for thousands of years.

Art isn’t simply decorative.

It can help us understand ourselves and the world around us.

It can also make complicated subjects accessible in ways that a lecture or list of facts cannot.

This is part of what Sionainne now brings into her teaching. Rather than simply telling people what is wrong with the world, she creates experiences that encourage them to connect, listen and think differently.

The North Node

Your Direction in Life

Another astrological theme that emerged strongly in our conversation was the North Node.

Sionainne has her North Node in Pisces in the 10th House.

In astrology, the North Node is often considered an area of growth and development. It can describe qualities and experiences that gradually become more important as we move through life.

The 10th House brings themes of vocation, public life, contribution and what we become known for.

Pisces introduces themes of compassion, spirituality, interconnectedness, imagination and dissolving boundaries.

Looking at Sionainne’s life through this symbolic lens, her current direction makes sense to her.

It isn’t necessarily that she suddenly discovered something completely new.

It is more like she gradually became willing to acknowledge something that had been there all along.

Sometimes the Pivot is Actually Getting Back on Track

This may be the most interesting idea from our conversation.

We tend to think of a pivot as moving away from something.

But perhaps sometimes a pivot is actually a return.

When we are young, we can spend years following expectations and ideas that our parents have ideas about what we should do.

Schools encourage certain paths and society tells us what success looks like.

We choose careers because they are practical.

We take jobs because they pay the bills.

We follow the path that seems sensible at the time.

There is nothing inherently wrong with this.

But somewhere along the way, you may discover that the person you have become does not quite fit the life you created.

Permission

A pivot can give you permission to reconsider.

You may discover that the things you loved when you were younger are still important.

You may find that an old interest connects beautifully with skills you have developed since then.

You may realize that what looked like a collection of unrelated interests is actually the outline of your life’s work.

Your Day Job Is Not Who You Are

We also talked about something many people can relate to which is the difference between your job and your identity.

Sometimes your day job is simply the thing that pays the rent.

That doesn’t make it meaningless.

In fact, your day job can provide the financial foundation that allows you to pursue your creative work, writing, art, teaching, astrology or other interests outside working hours.

Day Job as a Patron

We joked about Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo having patrons who paid for his basic needs while he created his art.

Perhaps we can think about our day jobs in a similar way.

Your job may be your patron.

It can fund the rest of your life without having to define who you are.

That can be a useful mental shift if your current work isn’t your passion.

You don’t necessarily have to quit your job tomorrow.

You can simply recognize that your job is one part of your life rather than your entire identity.

Small Changes Create a Ripple Effect

Plastics Student

One of the most inspiring stories Sionainne shared was about a student in one of her classes.

The student was studying plastics engineering and had taken a dance and social justice course because it was a humanities requirement.

He wasn’t particularly interested in dancing, but through the experience he began thinking differently about his future work.

Instead of simply asking how plastics could be recycled more effectively, he started thinking about how plastics could be produced differently in the first place.

Ripple Effect

That is a pivot in thinking and it shows how one person can influence another person, who then takes that new perspective into their own life and work.

You don’t have to change the entire world and that you can influence the people directly around you.

They may influence someone else and that person may influence another person.

The effect can ripple outward.

You Don’t Have to Save the Whole World

Think Local not Global

This is another important lesson from Sionainne’s story.

Sometimes we become paralysed because the problems we see are so enormous.

Things like:

Climate change
Environmental destruction
Social injustice
Political division
Economic uncertainty

It can feel impossible to make any meaningful difference.

But perhaps the answer is to focus on the part of the world that is actually within your reach like:

Teach one class
Help one person
Create one piece of art
Write one article
Have one meaningful conversation
Plant something
Listen deeply
Share an idea

You don’t have to do everything, but rather you can do what is yours to do and then allow that work to travel beyond you.

Pivoting Continues

By the end of our conversation, we came back to the idea that there may not be one great pivot in your life, in fact there may be many.

You might pivot your career in your thirties, your lifestyle in your forties, your education in your fifties and your creative direction in your sixties.

You might make several smaller pivots rather than one dramatic change.

And sometimes the pivot happens because you choose it.

Sometimes life chooses it for you.

Either way, you can use your birth chart as a way of reflecting on the direction you are moving towards.

Look at your North Node
Consider your tenth house
Think about the planets that dominate your chart
Look for themes that have appeared repeatedly throughout your life

Ask yourself:

What keeps calling me?

Perhaps the answer has been there all along.

Author Bio

Alison Price: Professional Astrologer

Alison helps you uncover your individual creativity and lead a fulfilling life using your own astrology. She shares her wisdom from the heart with a touch of humor. She offers Consultations for everyone and Coaching for Aspiring Astrologers.

If you’d like to get in touch with Alison, you can reach out to her via email at starzology@gmail.com.

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