Today on the news I heard a commentator say that “We are a blank page in between chapters”. I was struck by how much that resonated with me. I have clients that are expressing a feeling of disconnect and uncertainty the likes of which they have never felt before. I describe it sometimes like one foot on the dock and one in the boat. That feeling of being off kilter. Of being untethered. With that said, when I heard this person talk today about the fact that we are on a blank page between two chapters, I got it. For the most part in reading a book, there is some theme that makes sense. There is a flow to the story that allows you to move into the narrative. Sometimes we can speculate what is to come and sometimes we are pleasantly surprised.
Yet with the world as we know it today, there is a sense of uncertainty as to what is ahead. To me that blank page between chapters is an opportunity to hit the pause button. To step back and self-reflect on what do we want this next chapter to read like.
As a coach I often tell my clients you are the author of your own book, the director of your own play. Yet, I have a feeling that right now, in this time and this place we find ourselves, there is no context or experience to draw from. So, the uncertainty of what is ahead of us leaves the us with the quandary as how to write the next chapter of this book?
A major part of my job is to ask the questions waiting to be asked. The beauty of hitting that pause button is that it gives me time to listen to and feel the feelings as I am helping my clients in writing their own story.
We all have parts of us that make up who we are. Conflicting voices, some louder than others. Just for right now, what if the blank page between the chapters of our lives is the ability to hit the pause button and have a conversation with yourself as to “Where do I want to go?”,” What do I want to do?’, What brings me joy? And what do I need to let go of that is keeping me from fulling my goals “? Perhaps this blank page is an opportunity for us to truly reflect on what is working in our lives, and what is not working, personally, professionally, as a family, as a community and even as a nation. Having the courage to ask those questions, hit the pause button and sit with them, may indeed be a pathway to start the next chapter.
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