Not Ready for the Porch Rocker
You're at midlife+, staring at a future that looks nothing like what your parents and grandparents experienced at your age.
You're living longer and most likely better, so as you hit your 50s and beyond, the traditional concept of retiring and spending leisurely days parked on your porch rocker doesn’t fit at all.
Instead, you're craving a next act that energizes and challenges you in all the right ways.
You want to do something meaningful that offers more flexibility and less stress, so you can do things like see the Northern lights in Iceland and take up pickleball, the required leisure activity of people our age.
π Work-wise, you still have tons to offer and want to have an impact, but it has to be on your terms now.
When you think about what’s next, it feels like you’re facing a vast new horizon without a clear map. The possibilities are endless, and while that's exciting, it’s also pretty daunting.
Here, we'll dig into:
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finding a new adventure that energizes you
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a real-life example with Gretchen's story, showing how she transitioned from a corporate career to a fulfilling life of retreat leading
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how critical it is to take a step back, create space in your life, and pay attention to what excites you—those "pings" of interest.
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for some extra support, there's a free Mosaic Maker's Starter Kit to guide you through it all.
You Can’t Hard-Drive Yourself to Where Your Soul Wants to Go
When you were climbing the ladder, you figured out what was required and used your ambition and drive to get yourself there.
Now, your ambitions have changed in ways that are not totally clear, and you suspect that you can’t use your drive in the same way you always did.
You find yourself thinking there has to be a better way.
And if you’re honest, you don’t really have the energy to go hard like that anymore anyway.
As you approach the end of your career phase, you might feel a lot of pressure to have everything figured out.
Here’s the reality: figuring out what’s next is not straightforward, and it's definitely not just you who’s struggling with this.
The notion that you can seamlessly decide on the next big step is a myth reinforced by society’s narrative that clarity should come naturally once you reach this life stage.
The truth is much messier in this more fluid, undefined phase of life.
So if hard driving doesn’t work, what does?
Creating Space and Releasing the Pressure
Most of us aren't taught how to find our own way in life, especially in a way that breaks from traditional norms and aligns with your deepest sense of personal fulfillment and purpose.
Feeling stuck or uncertain is part of the process, not a personal flaw.
π―Letting go of the pressure to have all the answers right away is the single most important thing you can do to navigate this transition more freely and creatively.
When you adopt a more intuitive approach to figuring out what’s next, a whole new way of navigating life opens up that's looser, more fun, and profoundly rewarding.
Suddenly, you're not just living—you're thriving, finding your groove in the liminal spaces that used to freak you out.
Your life feels more vibrant because you're fully engaged with doing the things that light you up rather than the stuff that brings you down.
You discover nothing in your life experience is for naught as you reclaim the tools and skills honed over a lifetime to navigate and overcome obstacles with grace.
Gretchen Shifts Gears From Consultant to Retreat Leader
My client Gretchen is a seasoned business consultant known for her strategic acumen and ability to flat-out get things done.
She had reached a point in her career where she yearned for something more personally fulfilling.
While she thrived helping companies navigate complex changes, she was also feeling a strong pull towards her more intuitive, adventurous side that she had been too busy to fully explore.
Passionate about horses, nature, and the mystical arts like astrology and tarot, Gretchen found these interests increasingly calling to her.
It was during a life coach training course, initially intended to enhance her consulting skills, that she realized these passions might be more than just hobbies—they could be integral to her next career phase.
To make room for her to explore this new direction, we worked on creating space in her hectic schedule.
We started small: Gretchen blocked off a couple of hours one day a week, dedicating this time to self-reflection and exploration of her interests.
This simple act of creating some space snowballed over time, allowing her to reconnect with her inner desires without the pressure of immediate change.
Her explorations energized her and led her to new, unexpected places.
Inspired by her love for travel and empowered by her newly claimed time, Gretchen began organizing small, intimate retreats for women.
These weren't just any retreats; they were designed to blend adventure with introspection, featuring activities like horseback riding in the wilderness and evenings spent under the stars discussing life's big questions.
Her first retreat, a weekend getaway in the mountains, was a resounding success, filling up faster than she had anticipated and receiving glowing feedback from participants who cherished the blend of adventure and personal growth.
As she continues to consult, Gretchen's post-career life is taking shape not as a single, sudden switch from one career to another but as a beautiful mosaic of experiences she’s exploring that bring her joy and fulfillment.
To Get Where You Want To Go Next, Take A Mosaic Maker’s Approach To Life
Imagine that instead of following a linear path, your life is more like making a Mosaic. π¨
This is the metaphor I use in my Mosaic Life Mapping Framework that I taught Gretchen, giving her a new way to define and navigate her next phase
The first thing you do when you’re making your life Mosaic is to gather the pieces for it.
You don’t worry about what the finished Mosaic will look like, because the pieces themselves tell you how they want to be assembled.
π‘To start gathering the pieces, look around your life and notice the things that ‘ping’ for you.
Then, you have to play around with your pieces and try different arrangements.
As you stick with it, you see the shape of your unique Mosaic forming.
Taking a Mosaic Maker’s approach to life is both soulful and practical, eliciting your deepest desires while giving you the concrete advice and tools you need to make it happen in your everyday life.
If you’ve gotten this far in life, you’ve likely done an admirable job navigating under your own power.
Taking a Mosaic Maker’s approach to life is about expanding beyond your own power alone and opening to all of the ways Life is trying to show you the way.
Here are the first steps you can take to find and start following your life path.
1. Make Space: Reclaim Your Energy and Focus
Creating some breathing room in your packed schedule is the first step towards hearing what your soul is trying to tell you.
It's not about perfection—it's about intention.
Remember how everything opened up for Gretchen once she made space.
πConsider doing a B- job instead of an A+ job at work.
You’ve probably been taught to give it your all at work, but is your all really required every day, all the time? If you give work everything, what do you have left for the rest of your life?
Try taking it down a notch by logging off a bit earlier and skipping that meeting that could have been an email.
Here’s the secret: No one’s going to notice but you.
You only have so much life force energy, spend it wisely.
People tend to think of parts of their life like slices of pie, where they have 100% energy for each slice.
But, you only have 100% energy for your entire life. You aren’t pie.
You have to reclaim some energy to fuel your exploration of what’s next.
πWant some help creating more bandwidth?
Download my Life Web Energy Assessment tool in the Mosaic Maker’s Starter Kit.
In the Starter Kit, I guide you through looking at all the main areas of your life, assessing where the energy drains are, and taking small, doable steps to create the space you need.
2. Release the Pressure: Gather Your Mosaic Pieces Without Rushing
The pressure to have everything figured out can be overwhelming.
πInstead of forcing clarity, relieve the pressure and let yourself explore freely.
Your next act won’t be defined by traditional career milestones or immediate successes.
Consider this time as an exploratory phase where you gather pieces of your Mosaic—each representing different interests, passions, or curiosities you have.
Allow these pieces to accumulate without the urgency to make them fit into a coherent picture right away.
This approach is about reducing the self-imposed stress to define your future and instead, letting it unfold organically.
When Gretchen released the pressure of having to know exactly what her next chapter would be, it opened up her creativity and had the unexpected (to her π) benefit of bringing more joy and passion into her life now.
The pieces of your life Mosaic can be found everywhere: think of it like breaking aspects of your life apart and harvesting out the useful bits.
You can deconstruct your career or childhood, pulling out the pieces that you enjoy, are good at, and light you up.
Even your so-called failures and personal limitations contain gold if you think of them as arrows pointing you in the opposite direction.
To look forward, start noticing what pings for you.
3. Notice What Pings for You: Tune Into Your Intuitive Signals
As you start creating space and releasing pressure, you’ll become more attuned to the things that genuinely resonate with you.
πThese are 'pings'—little sparks of interest or excitement that catch your attention.
It might be a book, a conversation, a hobby, or even a new discipline. It can even be things that annoy you or seem random, but keep grabbing your attention.
When Gretchen started tracking what pinged for her, it’s as if her various interests that had previously felt disparate and disconnected came together and started “speaking” to her, gelling in new ways she hadn’t considered.
It kinda blew her mind. π€―
Like Gretchen, pay close attention to these pings; they are clues pointing towards potential avenues of further exploration.
πImportant! Be sure to capture your pings in a journal or a digital note-taking app.
Don’t let them rattle around in your brain.
Over time, you’ll find that these pings start to form patterns or themes, which will guide your decisions and next steps.
Embracing this intuitive approach allows you to navigate your transition with more flow and joy, gradually leading you to discover a path that is uniquely yours.
Having trouble tuning into what pings for you? This is a common issue and I’ve got you covered! In the Mosaic Maker’s Starter Kit, I help you tune into what a ping feels like for you and give you some prompts to get you going.
Now’s the time to start imagining what your Post-Career Pivot could look like. Redefine what success means to you, make space explore what makes you tick, and notice what grabs your attention.
Allow yourself the freedom to explore and experiment without a fixed endpoint in sight.
My wish for you is that you shake off the old ways that no longer fit and step forward into this new phase of life with confidence and creativity, remembering that the most rewarding paths often begin with a single, small ‘ping.’
Your Next Act Awaits: Get Started with the Mosaic Maker's Starter Kit
Transitioning into your post-career life doesn't have to be daunting. This kit is designed to guide you through this fluid phase of life in a more connected, intuitive way that helps you start answering life’s big questions.
- Reclaim Your Energy: Use the Life Web Energy Assessment to see where your energy goes and where it could be better spent.
- Identify What Lights You Up: Explore activities and interests that might have been sidelined but are now calling to you.
- Notice Your Pings: Catch those subtle cues that hint at deeper interests or forgotten joys.
You can download your Starter Kit right here.
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