A new chapter

I am beyond excited to be able to write this title.

I have been in a state of perpetual transition, waiting, “in-between-ness” and “stuck-ness” for what feels like forever, as you’ll know if you’ve followed this blog for awhile, had a conversation with me in the last 3 years, or even if you just glance at my last few post titles: The Longest Night, Dead Reckoning, Life Block.

In The Way of Transition author William Bridges describes a cycle that looks like this: Ending > Neutral zone > Beginning again.

“Change can happen at any time,” writes Bridges, “but transition comes along when one chapter of your life is over and another is waiting in the wings to make its entrance.”

I’ve sensed for awhile a harbinger of a new beginning, but not known when to expect it or from which direction it would come.

Suddenly, serendipitously, just weeks (or was it days) after receiving a strong sense that the new beginning was nigh, that I should be “adventurously expectant,” I received an email out of the blue. Which led to a conversation. Which led to an opportunity, and not just any opportunity: the one I didn’t realize I had been waiting for, that checked all the boxes I didn’t know were even possible to check all at once, that matched every single petal of my “self inventory flower” (if that sounds like gibberish to you I promise it’s not, check out What Color Is Your Parachute?) And even one added bonus rife with infinite possibilities: it’s fully remote!

Since then — over the last few months — I have completed the transition into a new job as a writer and editor for a very cool company in the tourism industry called Arival that serves businesses in the tours, activities and attractions sector (what they call “The Best Part of Travel,” and it is). I’ve freshly returned from a conference put on by the Arival team in Las Vegas, and it was incredible. This new beginning feels like the perfect culmination of my skills and passions with my work experience from the last 5+ years in tourism.

I am elated, overjoyed, euphoric. While I am fully aware I am in the “honeymoon stage” of a new thing, I am soaking it up; and, as my posts in recent years have been heavily weighted on the side of struggle, I had to share the excitement of this breakthrough with all of you here.

Of course, there is no new beginning without an ending, there is no moving forward without leaving behind. But that is a story for another day.

Thank you all for your reading, encouragement and support, and if you want to check out more about what this new awesome thing is that I’m up to, you can read my latest article here and/or check out my Vegas highlights on Instagram here.