If you find yourself at a cross roads of your life, whether its exploring retirement or transitioning into a new career or life focus, this message is for you.

I never thought this idea of planning for retirement was a thing I needed to think about with any measure of intensity. But as I reflect on the last 15 years of my life, I am present to just how quickly time goes and how quickly we can find ourselves having to make choices that need to fit within a new life paradigm. One that's new, unfamiliar and obscure.

One thing is certain. An old life has to be left behind. And with this, you might be experiencing feelings of loss of what was, mixed with anxiety isolation and uncertainty for what's to come.

And as much as you might have been looking forward to it, this is one of life's milestones not to be taken lightly, and definitely should be pursued with a healthy balance of excitement, commitment and curious exploration.

You are at the beginning of a new book. Chapter one of what's next is waiting to be written.
And despite the mixed bag of emotions, your energy and attention is quite eager to be channeled in new directions. What happens next will set your focus and hold your attention for the foreseeable future.

Your first new job as CEO of Your Dream Life is to develop and refine your creative process. The guide rails that will direct your efforts.

This is less about following a pre-designed purpose than it is a practice of leaning into a way of living that honors serendipitous coincidence.

You're at a unique point in your life.
You're able to do something most of us say we want to do but are just not ready for yet.

And that is to free yourself of all obligations, attachments and expectations that have typically influenced the directions our life needed to go in and instead decisively venture forth in a direction of your choosing because you said so and because you're ready for the trip.

A large majority of us have bought into this idea that we had to follow a specific path.
And if we followed that path, hit those objectives, those things we said we needed to, meaning and purpose would show up on the end of that journey. The hidden treasure. 
We did not veer off that path, believing that would risk it all, compromising the end result.

You know this to be untrue. 
Because here you are, at the end of said path 
only to discover that it was not the end at all. 

Only a new beginning.

Now is the time to double down on who you really are and embrace your inner collector and creator. You are a creative and a collector, have always been. You have created many experiences, produced or participated in producing the tangible and the intangible. You have collections of a life of ideas, beliefs, ways of doing, ways of being to prove it.

This time of your life is about re-engaging with those small moments, spending time with them and adding meaning to them. 

What happened?
What have I done?
What is important to me?
Why does it matter?
What will be my new focus? 

This new clarity, this spark, will light your candle of creativity.
And it will show you the way and reveal your creative process.

Nurturing creativity is like giving structure and organization for chaos to roam freely. you know this. 
It's intentionally making space for the unpredictable to just do it's thing, but within parameters.

If there are no parameters, the creative process becomes too much, goes too far, spreads out too thin. It becomes impossible for us to really grab hold of.

Your creative process is the place where what's next will incubate. 
And it needs to be a familiar space. 
One that you can explore and understand intimately it's nuance and subtleties so that you can effectively guide, direct and capture the insights of this introspective evaluating and contemplating of possibility to design your new life.

This is far from the end, this is the beginning and the first step to recalibrating what life looks like for you.

Embrace it. 
Write about it. 
Share those thoughts with others. 
Seek out those who relish in these discussions. 
Go deeper than you ever have and experience a level of clarity like you've never experienced.

Join me and surrender to your curiosity