A pivot isn’t a U-turn. You keep everything you learned and point it somewhere better.

Changing direction does not delete the distance you already covered. A pivot keeps the skills, the contacts and the hard-won lessons and aims them somewhere more promising, which is nothing like returning to the start line. People avoid it because quitting and redirecting look the same from outside, and they are worried about how it will read.

If you are thinking about a change, list what you would carry with you rather than what you would lose. That list is usually longer than expected. Decide from it instead of from what other people will assume.