My Mind Went Blank. . .
The other day I pulled a brand new art journal off the shelf and opened it on my art table.
“Now what?” it asked me.
Now what, indeed!
Before I'd opened it, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do. But the moment I was facing those two blank pages, my mind just went...well...blank.
It is me, though. So the hesitation didn't last long. Just start is one of my creativity mantras, after all.
It struck me that moving into your Third Act feels a lot like opening an art journal to a blank page.
Every new client I work with hears my "it contains multitudes" spiel. Because it's true: The blank page—just like your Third Act—isn't actually blank. It contains possibilities not yet formed. Not yet spoken. Maybe not even imagined.
In the first two acts of our lives, much of the picture has already been sketched in. We grow up, get educated and build careers. Raise children. Show up for partners and friends. Care for parents. Our days are so full that meaning often comes bundled inside the responsibilities we've chosen—or the ones that chose us.
Then one day, the page looks different.
I don't think your job in this chapter is to find your Purpose with a capital P.
Maybe your Third Act isn't asking you to figure out the whole painting...Right. Now.
Maybe it's simply asking you to pick up the brush and see what emerges.
The rest has a way of revealing itself, one mark at a time.
