Which would you rather do, design a life you love, or redesign a life you will love?

Feels like a trick question, doesn’t it?

How about if I put it this way …   Do you enjoy setting up a room the first time, or rearranging it once you have had time to use it for awhile?

Would you keep things exactly the way they are today in your life, or have you learned things that you would lead you to make different choices?

Ok, where am I going with this?  I know, odd line of questioning, but trust me they are important questions.

The questions came to me through a thought process that started when I was “ice cubing” (the process for watering) our orchid plants.

I am not great at remembering to water plants, and more often than not I kill them before they have time to grow.

But our two orchid plants are extra special to us, as they were “thinking of you” gifts when my father-in-law passed away last March.  They were beautiful for awhile, until we once again forgot to “ice” them.  

As I went to toss them (I know …) Steve stopped me to show me all the new buds on them!  I thought for sure we had dried them up and they were done … but there below the dried up stem was new growth.  It was just starting over in a new direction.

It made me think about how often we are just like that orchid plant.

You see, the times we think we have no purpose, or feel lost, is really just a time we can redesign our life and where we are headed.  We can reroute our plans and start fresh.

A time that can feel so uncertain and limiting, can be a brand new start and redirection.  

The reality is that it can be a time where we have many more opportunities than we had before, and less restrictions.  We just need to pause long enough to discover the clarity of what we want that to look like.

Maybe you feel like you have lost your purpose in life when your kids left, and you became an empty nester.

Or maybe you are new into retirement years and are feeling a little lost.  Like you just aren’t making a difference or have the same importance as when you were working.

You may even feel a sense of loss, sadness, or regret of not showing up in past years the way you would like to now.

It can be hard to find the real “you” when you are used to being needed and things have changed.  When you have felt comfortable and safe in the roles you had.

That’s when you know it is time to reroute, redesign, and take a new path of purpose.

To rediscover who you want to be and where you want to go.  

Our paths bring us to today, but they are not our future.  The events in our lives are preparation, and rather than stopping us, give us a springboard for what’s next.  

The thing is, we can’t spring forward if we are looking back.  

The uncomfortableness might actually be what tells us it is time for a change.

If I hadn’t of become an empty nester, I wouldn’t be enjoying being a Grandma.

If I hadn’t of journeyed through betrayal and loss, I wouldn’t have learned a deeper trust and had the rich blessing of our crazy blended family.

If my friend had not made the courageous and bold decision of retirement (it can be one of the hardest decisions to make!), she would not have the freedom of time to lean in and embrace opportunities to help others she never had the time for while working.

What changes or challenges are bringing you feelings of uncertainty or loss?  

What if I told you that you have more impact and importance now than you ever did before?

If I could assure you that the new growth is just redesigning or redirecting who you have been all along?

Remember the orchid, and find the beauty in the new blooms.  

Identifying clarity of who it is you want to be, will give you the framework and confidence to discover what your new design will be.

The beauty is in the paths that bring fresh blooms.

It’s not a fence you are coming to in your journey, but rather a gate.  Open it and bloom, and discover you are designed for more.

Your blooms just might be bigger, brighter, and braver than you could ever imagine without moving.