Life’s Next Chapter

This morning enjoying my coffee outside, as I do all summer, the birds were noticeably absent. Oh I saw one or two fly by, but the majority of the birds that I had watched all summer had essentially vanished. “This is still summer!” I thought…pondering what was going on I recalled the mother robin that each morning was busy collecting worms for her babies. And the killdeer who squawked endlessly to let us know we were too near her young ones, as they scurried across the yard and horse pasture. Then I realized, the birds were not gone, they were just empty nesters now!

Ever since early spring here in Central NY the birds have been very vocal as they built their homes (nests) and tended to their young. Now in late summer their jobs were done. Being still in my early morning hour with this awareness, I felt a strong pang in my own heart, remembering the first time I came into a completely empty house after dropping my last child off at college.

The silence had a new meaning. Instead of being a reprieve in a long loud day it was suddenly unending. As I stood in the quiet I could feel my lonely heart. I gave myself time to adjust to my new surrounding, and then I asked myself a question that I often still ask myself to this day, “What’s next?” Through the tears I was able to remember some of those old dreams, the ones I kept stored in that paisley colored box under my bed. I pulled out that dusty box of dreams, decided what was still relevant and what no longer mattered and I got to work on the next chapter of my life.

I was not leaving my children behind. I was instead creating a life I loved based on the foundatio
I had built raising them. They had taught me a lifetime of lessons that I could now use in new ways. I went back to school and now I am a Life and Relationship Coach helping women to thrive. I am doing meaningful work that I truly love.

Just as I was finishing my coffee mother robin hopped by. She wasn’t gone, just on her own now and could pick worms wherever she chose.

Are you at a “What’s next?” point in your own life? You might be an empty nester or you may never have had children. Either way we have various turning points in our lives where we naturally ask ourselves these very important questions:

* Is it time to dust off my dreams?
* What is the next chapter of my life?
* If you knew I could not fail, what would I do next?

By Judith Geiger

Be in Love Again Coach