Susan’s Next Big Adventure

Today is my birthday! It’s been 35 years since I was a senior in high school. I’ll let you do the math on that one! THIRTY.FIVE.YEARS! How on earth did that happen and where did the time go? Oh yeah, wait a minute…here’s where it went; college, corporate job, marriage, 4 kids, moves across country twice, stay at home mom, so many volunteer positions, part time jobs, divorce, death, remarriage, children going to college, children getting married, children having children of their own, full time job, side hustle. OK, so maybe I have been a little busy.

All of those things above – SO AMAZING! Even the difficult, tragic and sad things have resulted in God’s blessings. But during that time, somehow, I got lost. Yeah, I know, I know…that’s so cliché. But ladies, sometimes as women we get so wrapped up in serving others and honestly, just surviving, we forget about our desires and what makes us happy. We forget about the talents we have and the dreams we put on the back shelf. And, I’m not sad about that, because I would never regret the life I have lived.

But, with my youngest graduating from high school this year and heading out to college 3 hours away, I have decide that this year will be the year of Susan’s Next Big Adventure: Exploration & Excellence. I have to thank my daughter Z and my good friend Chelsey for helping me put some legs to this idea. When Z was home for spring break last week, we were in the car and she googled “what to do when you are an empty nester” and found a list of 100 things to do when you when the last chick flies the coop. She started reading the list out loud and the items ranged from taking a cooking class to getting a divorce. (Yes, it really did have that listed!) But, it got me thinking that rather than just decide what I want to do, I need to figure it out by exploring all of the things!

The excellence part comes from my friend Chelsey, who you will see is obviously is an 8 on the Enneagram. Every day Chels and I text each other a picture of our Today Journal (yes, from Rachel Hollis). Our today journal includes 5 things we are grateful for and our 10 Dreams written out as if they have already occurred. We are iron sharpens iron friends and hold each other’s feet to the fire when it’s needed, encourage each other and pray for each other. Although she is 20 years younger than me, we have similar dreams and goals and she recently texted to me “Time to show your kids that excellence is the next best chapter 🙂 ” Thank you God for great friends!

So, over the course of the next year (until I am 36 years from being a senior in high school), I am going to explore a variety of things to figure out how to make this next chapter excellent!
Here’s my list so far:

1. Learn to play a musical instrument – Thank you Amazon Prime for my cute pink Ukulele that I’ve already received. Mark has a steel drum collecting dust, so maybe he’ll start playing and we can start a band and retire on the beach playing for tourists as they drink fruity drinks with little paper umbrellas?
2. Interior Decorating – My house is pretty much decorated with family photos and dog toys, so this will be interesting! It’s never been a passion of mine because for most of my married life, our family motto has been “If it’s not broken, it’s not ours”. I’m starting with a bathroom…how hard can it be?
3. Meditating/Yoga – I KNOW this is so good for you, so it’s on my list. But two things; 1) My house has rarely been quiet enough for this, and 2) Do I really want to be alone with my thoughts?
4. Hiking – Most of my life I’ve had horrible allergies, but for the most part I seem to have outgrown them (perks of getting older?), so now seems like a good time to go out and enjoy nature more.
5. Gardening – I used to be a square foot gardener when my kids were little. Going to give this another try, and in case of a zombie apocalypse, I have a source of food.
6. Intentional friendships – For most of the past 35 years, my friends have been parents of my kid’s friends. Well, when those kids move away, the friendships seem to fade, because it’s not as convenient. This year, I’m going to rekindle those friendships and make new intentional friends. Even at age “35 years since I was a senior in high school”, iron sharpens iron friends are so important.
7. Entertaining/Couples Friends – Mark and I married when we were well into our forties, and we each had our own set of friends. It’s time for us to have friends together! We are both homebodies, so this one may take some bribery and coaxing! Although, we are pretty fun…you should be our friends!
8. Hand Lettering – Because so cute & trendy right now! Plus, I would love to create cute little cards to send to all my reinvigorated friendships in #6!
9. Marie Kondo-ing – I’ve been in this house since 1995. ‘Nuff said.
10. Minimalizing – Goes hand in hand with #9, but specifically I want to reduce my plastic use and create a capsule wardrobe. Time to be more socially conscious, better late than never, right?

I’d like to add a couple more items to this list, so please comment below with some ideas you think would be great for me or ideas that you are going to try! Although, please don’t recommend run a marathon or participate in a triathlon…never going to happen! Hiking and yoga, that’s my speed.

I am so excited to see where this journey takes me and how I will have changed over the course of a year! I will be documenting all of my successes and failures on my blog, my Instagram account (@nextchapterbestchapter) and my Facebook account (Next Chapter Best Chapter).  Don’t miss any of the posts, and sign up to receive emails below! I PROMISE I won’t fill up your inbox!)