Don’t wait. If it calls to you, do it now.
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Somewhere around the third chapter of your life, the story of you needs a rewrite.
I didn't see this until I turned 50. This seemed overwhelming and scary, so I called for backup. Who would understand this, and who has experience with life journey rewrites? I surrounded myself with a trusted inner circle of people like me—gifted professionals and communicators. That became this community.
What happened next is liberating and applies to every adult past 40 who is discerning what they're really meant to do. The gifted communicators were particularly good at pushing me past the external noise I'd been listening to for way too long, to discover the internal me, which is where the truths, problems, solutions, gifts, deep questions, and reality were in session—waiting for me to arrive.
From this walk through fire came three immediately useful insights for both you and me to rewrite the third chapter of our life.
1-Everyone has a story.
Words are how we think and stories are how we link. Nobody wants another article; instead, tell a story. Bring stories to life with truth, empathy, and connection. That's what you, my subscribers and my trusted tribe are asking for.
Of course, I understand that your story is the most fascinating one of all; moreover, we need to feature the stories of our members in every post and newsletter. My promise to you is that this GPC Substack and the other places I publish will include names and stories of professionals + communicators + gifted adults who are members of the GPC Community, as well as others who know they belong and continue to stand just outside the front window—looking in.
What does a third chapter story look like? Lily Jedynak, Ph.D., is about to write that chapter and shows us how she got to this point in her circuitous voyage called her story, here.
What should you pack and take with you for the third chapter of your life—to make sure you thrive, not just survive? What is in that Mary-Elaine Jacobsen, Psy.D. Seabag that includes the total of your essence and intentions? It’s a fantastic list that may apply to everyone who has ever felt anxiety, joy, confusion, clarity, love, and grief. Smart money says everyone in America could use that list right now to move toward their version of the finish line. Reread Lily’s whole story when you realize it’s time to rewrite your story.
2-Everything is personal because we are human.
You, me, and all of us, gifted or otherwise, are one person. You are one life story with multiple chapters. There is no such thing as work-life balance because that is one example of the external indoctrination that is not true.
Jason Leister, Sovereign Business, showed us this:
For some reason, we’re taught to build a rather dysfunctional wall between our business and our life.
When you fall into this trap, you start acting like your life has no effect on your business. When you start to think THAT, you become blind.
When weird things start to happen in the business, you analyze the business instead of analyzing YOU.
That’s the first wrong move. Eventually, if you let this outward-facing awareness become habit, you completely lose yourself.
You think the problems are “out there.” You look for the solutions “out there.” You lose the connection you have to your power as the primary influencing force in your reality.
3-After the job and the career, you arrive at your calling
After 40 or more years of doing everything you were ever taught or told to do, why would you realize that you need to rewrite your story? Many professionals, for example, come to a stage in life where they see they have limited themselves in jobs and then career shifts, but never go through the trouble of thinking for themselves to answer their calling.
As soon as you accept the reality that you are one, unique, memorable human with a gift or exceptional talent, I suggest you read Purpose & Profit by Dan Koe.
Work experience is a part of your whole being and it helps to understand how you got to today. It started with a job. Your parents, authority figures, education systems, and culture conditioned you to become a useful worker for society’s plan for you. You believed it and went to job fairs, wrote a resume, interviewed for jobs, and worked in jobs.
“A job is some unpleasant work you do for someone else for the sole purpose of making money. A career is a commitment to develop in your work. A career demands that you pursue a hierarchy of challenging roles and tasks,” Koe writes.
One element of professionalism is continuing education, and often there is certification, accreditation, licensure, and renewal of the credentials every three to five years, through more exams or documentation of work achievements.
“A calling is work you can’t pull yourself away from, and others can’t help but pay you for. A calling can’t be assigned to you. A calling cannot be pursued under the orders of another. A calling is found at the point where improvement turns into obsession. A calling is something others won’t understand,” Koe writes.
A job is not a career or calling, but a career and calling are both jobs. A career is not a calling, but a calling is a career. A calling is for people who know they are meant for more.
Our calling is something you sense you are really meant to do rather than what others think you should do. - Ellen D.Fiedler, Ph.D.
Purpose does not exist without problems. It only makes sense to create work that doesn’t feel like work, no matter the difficulty of that grand task.
“At the start, you create to make money. In the end, you make money to create,” Koe writes.
Are You Ready to Write the Third Chapter?
There’s no coach, course, or YouTube video that will get you from the external messages that you’ve been following and through the fire of going deep inside yourself, your mind, your intentions, and your truths to make that final transformation from a career to your calling. There are books, communities of practice, and skilled interviewers like me who have been through the fire and can help you pack your seabag. The journey through the fire is yours, alone.
As a skilled communicator, you know every good story goes through at least one rewrite to bring out the 60% of the story you did not admit or want to reveal; still, it makes your story authentic and trustworthy.
As a professional, you may have invested 40 or more years to learn how to learn, then how to ask questions instead of assuming everyone is waiting for your answers. Finally, you realize the most important thing is your story. You want to find it. We want to hear it and see it in all of your writing, webpages, LinkedIn profile, and personal appearances.
When is the best time to do this? How about now?
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Do you feel like you're on the edge of something amazing, and you just can't figure out what it is? That's where I come in. My name is Georgia Patrick. I work with curious, intense, understanding professionals—still in practice and retired—to tap into their full potential and get extremely clear on their gift (their value) to individuals actively seeking such wisdom. It starts with an email. Maybe a short call to make sure I hear you, see you, and understand you.
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"A calling is work you can’t pull yourself away from"
I love that way of looking at it. For me, that's writing. And I'm closer to sixty than fifty now and still not sure what the heck the next chapter looks like but I'm pretty sure writing is involved.