Change is hard. Even if you’re the one who wants to make a change, life often gets in the way with a vengeance. Health problems, financial issues, time crunches, people around you being unsupportive, fear, and a whole lot more work against you, preventing you from making those changes as fast as you’d like.
Then there are the changes you didn’t ask for but life threw at you anyway: relationships failing, friends drifting apart, clients going in a different direction…It’s even harder to adapt to changes you didn’t see coming because this time you have to deal with the loss of what was and create motivation out of thin air. Yikes.
So it’s always good to have some external inspiration nudging us in the right direction, making us feel not alone. Below are 3 TV series and 2 novels that prove extreme changes, as challenging as they are, can be the best things that happen to us.
And the good news is, the changes you want to or have to make will probably not be as wild!
Younger (2015-2021) starring Sutton Foster
40-year-old Liza’s (Sutton Foster) life needs a reset button asap: divorced with a daughter in college, Liza wants to get back to her previous career in publishing. Problem? No one is willing to hire her at her age with that long gap in her resume. That’s when her best friend/artist Maggie (Debbie Mazar) comes up with a radical life makeover plan: Change Liza’s makeup/hair/wardrobe so that she can look and act like a 27-year-old.
It works! With her old “soul”, maturity, wisdom beyond her years, and knowledge of books, she finally gets a job. However, bumps occur when she develops a close friendship with an actual 20-something co-worker and crushes on a 20-something tattoo artist (Nico Tortorella) who believes she is around his age. What makes things even more complicated is that she also bonds with her late-40s handsome boss (Peter Hermann) who is not happy he’s attracted to someone so much younger…
Younger is a brilliant and funny show full of heart. It takes down stereotypes and agism, while it makes us grapple with a solid dilemma: What would you do if you were forced to choose between honesty and happiness in all areas of your life?
Rookie (2018-…. ) starring Nathan Fillion
When 40-something John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) faces a life-or-death situation after his divorce, pursuing his dream to be a police officer seems like a no-brainer. With his only child in college, if he doesn’t pursue this now, when will he?
But being the oldest rookie in the LAPD won’t be easy, especially with his superior seemingly out to get him. But as he forms close friendships with younger rookies Jackson and Lucy, he knows he made the right call. And while the training officers are skeptical, he proves to everyone that life experience, empathy, and emotional intelligence are priceless skills, and he is an asset to the force rather than a liability.
Matlock (2024-…) starring Kathy Bates
Madeleine Matlock is a 70-something attorney who’s dying to get back into law after years spent raising a family. She uses her invisibility and people’s constant underestimation of her as a superpower and manages to land a job at a prestigious law firm.
But unbeknownst to her new colleagues and bosses, she has a big secret: She lost her adult daughter to opioid addiction. Raising her preteen grandson with her husband, she has infiltrated to expose those people who enable the drug company’s distribution and marketing.
As lines blur and friendships grow, Madeline will have to keep outsmarting everyone.
Book Series: A Change Would Do You Good – Romcom, Contemporary Fiction
A Change Would Do You Good is a romcom novel where the main character continues to inspire me to this day.
Months after her boyfriend dies and her friends move to another country, Janie’s desperate to feel good again. She gives her life an extreme makeover: She moves to another city, complete with a different car and wardrobe. The good news? The chaotic new people in her life provide just the distraction she needs. The bad news? She is definitely not ready for the attraction she feels for her surfer neighbor Kevin, who just might be the hottest and most insensitive person she has ever met. But is Kevin really only good for something casual, or is he also starting to feel something that he can’t ignore?
While Janie has the money and good health to make the changes she does, it still takes a lot of guts to make such big changes. Instead of her blossoming career in LA as a fashion designer, she opts to work for a much smaller agency in San Diego. She leaves her loving family and other friends behind. She goes from the peace and quiet of her house to an apartment building filled with quirky neighbors. Even as an extrovert, she struggles to adjust to her new reality, especially since she is still grieving the loss of the wonderful man she was in a fantastic, loving relationship with.
A Change Would Do You Good is the first book in the A Change Would Do You Good romcom trilogy. And as Janie deals with her grief and makes a new life for herself with new friends, the second and third book continue with her and her friends & neighbors’ adventures. You can check out the first two books on Amazon. I’m currently working on the final book.
You can read this ensemble fun as an e-book and a paperback. It’s also free to read on Kindle Unlimited.
Book Series: Nellie’s Fire Nehalennia’s Daughters Book 1 – A Paranormal Women’s Fiction Fantasy
Nellie Jansen has a good life in the Netherlands. She loves her job, her partner Bram, and their daughter. She’s not looking to change anything. Until she discovers she is a powerful fire witch, and she will have to get used to her powers, learn about her heritage, and save the world in the process.
If you love your strong female protagonists who also tend to be supernaturally powerful and will do everything to save those she loves, you’re going to love this. And if Nellie can cope with the monumental changes thrown her way, then there is hope for all of us.
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How do you feel about change? Did you watch or read any of these works? Let me know in the comments!
