I had started working right after my college, moved halfway across the world, raised two amazing kids, built a successful career, prioritized fulfilling my worldly responsibilities, and now, had reached a life stage where I felt a need for a break.
A break for myself, a craving to just be, a desire to to rest and reflect..
A day without packed agenda and without high demanding tasks..
A mind without the urgency to organize and optimize on available time..
I was ready to take a detour and experiment on myself.
After much reflection, at the age of 57, I quit my high profile job in a tech startup of Silicon Valley and gave myself the biggest gift — the “gift of time”. When asked if I am retired, I always responded, I am taking a PAUSE. But, honestly speaking, I did not know myself. The only thing I knew was that I was not afraid of the change.
I had no rigid schedule, no deadlines, and no urgencies hanging on my head. The very first change was a slowdown in my multitasking. No need to context switch at the lightening speed. It was an amazing feeling of getting to the 100% completion point. I was more productive and efficient and I loved that. I also realized that “doing” is “me” and that gives me true happiness.
I was still making my to-do lists for all the things I wanted to do in my life ahead.. and, to my surprise, my to do lists looked different than before. I learnt that I was at a transition point in my life and the pause was allowing me to redesign my next phase, which was very fulfilling and important.
The pause allowed me to think deep. I figured that the lack of “think time” was leading me towards a lower state of energy — and deteriorated mental and emotional health. And that impacted my physical health. I was in a vicious loop of declining well being. By attending to my holistic being, I experienced getting stronger and more robust.
About a year has passed since then and the journey through various stages of pausing has been interesting and developed me in newer ways. I have figured my path ahead and am pumped to go at it. Onto the next chapter of life!
#pauseandreflect #reinvent #womenslife #deepthinking #actIII
