Closing Chapters in a Book

I moved to northern Delaware in June 2002 to take a new role within Accenture. It was a brand new adventure for me professionally to step into an HR leadership role for an outsourcing delivery center because my prior roles were predominantly focused on consulting teams.  Personally, my husband and I were moving from a townhouse in a small city where we could walk or metro across the DC area to buying a home in a newer development about 25 minutes outside of Wilmington, DE where everything was a drive and the restaurant options were limited. 

It was both a new career and a personal chapter. Many career chapters have been written since that one.

On the personal side, we're getting ready to close the personal chapter of living in the suburbs of Wilmington as we prepare to move full-time to Lewes, DE for another significant change in environment.  From a small city suburbs to a beach town (unfortunately, still a few miles to the beach, but much closer than now!).

Whenever we close a chapter, we're opening a new one, and we get to write the story.  We get to answer: who are the key characters, what do they do, where do they go, what changes, and what stays the same, etc.

It's exciting and scary all at the same time because we're stepping out of our comfort zone.  We don't know what will happen.

It still feels a bit surreal for me though I've known this is coming for several months.  Now that we're counting down the weeks, it's time to dig in and make some plans, but also be open to just experiencing what comes.

There's a section in my book, A Perfect Life is Not the Goal, that covers some additional thoughts on mapping out the destinations for your life, writing your story, and starting new chapters.

What chapter are you ending? 

What chapter are you starting?

When chapters end, how do you acknowledge and/or celebrate them?

I'd love to hear from you!