Crafting Your Next Life Chapter
What is a chapter? A division, a transition, a moment to pause. In the jump from one to the next, something has altered: new setting, new timeframe, new characters.
What have been the chapters in your life, and what determined them? Sometimes external events dictate the switch — changing careers, moving cities, a family crisis — but we are equally capable of drawing that line from within.
The global pause we’re all experiencing now can be an ideal time to contemplate your personal narrative, and thankfully, gaining control of it doesn’t actually require tackling the big “Who am I? / What do I want to do with my life?” questions.
As Aristotle noted, “We are what we repeatedly do”.
Our lives are shaped more by the daily, seemingly benign decisions we make than by the grand but typically infrequent ones.
So start small:
The simplest way to begin to craft your next chapter is to ask yourself each day (morning or night, at your preference, but either way, close to sleep):
“Where I am empty, and where am I full?”
What do you need more of, and what to you wish to lessen or let go?
Set your rational mind aside and allow your body/inner self to respond. The answers don’t need to make sense to you, nor do you need to understand how they fit into the grand plan (should you have one) for your life.
Keep track of your answers in the same place. As you move through this exercise and reflect on your answers and corresponding actions — over the course of a week or month — you will begin to notice patterns emerging, and the larger question of “What do I really want?” will have already been answered. Without you even being aware.
Caveday is a company aimed at improving your relationship to work. We write regular posts on Medium and send out monthly newsletters with productivity tips, life hacks, and recommendations. Sign up for the mailing list here.
Jenni Dawes is a creative strategist and the founder of KINDRED, a mindfulness enterprise offering antidotes to urban living.
