Act Four

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.
~ Maya Angelou

Today, I’ve been thinking that my life is a play in five acts.

Act One was the growing up years, bonding with family and getting an education. It culminated in graduate school (MS) and working at Roger Williams University. Act Two was my corporate learning and development career – Travelers, my career consulting years, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware, and Vanguard. That act documented twenty years of contributions, highlighted by earning a doctorate, and punctuated with several moments of high drama just to keep the play interesting.

Act Three was the brief interlude as a solopreneur – adjunct faculty work, consulting, and writing my book. This act was short, but critical to the overall arc of the play, I think. I’m opening Act Four now, and anticipating Act Five will encompass the semi-retirement and retirement years.

During my beach walks and down time this week, I’m working on the plot for Act Four.

Today I read Todd Henry’s latest book, Louder Than Words, which is a timely guide to finding your professional “voice” – that bit of yourself to contribute to the world. In Big Magic (also on my vacation book stack), Liz Gilbert calls that “the jewel that is hidden within,” and she urges courage and commitment as a path toward creative living and making a space for the ideas that are ours alone to share.

This overdose of self-help could be a bad sugar rush (rather like having one too many of Donna’s famous cookies during the Captain Freeman Inn’s afternoon repast, but I wouldn’t know a thing about that…). I’m actually finding nuggets of good advice in these books. Knowing that I need to outline Act Four puts me in a reflective mood, perhaps a little more receptive to exhortations to find my voice and nurture my creative energies. I’m noodling my personal manifesto… we’ll see how far I get as the week goes on.

Lest you think I’m not vacationing on this vacation, let me assure you I had a marvelous day. I took my long beach walk on Marconi Beach, a real favorite of mine. It’s part of the National Seashore, and it’s expansive, pristine, peaceful, and gorgeous. I am always mesmerized by the waves, and the pictures cannot begin to capture them – the sound, the rhythm, the rush, the mist, the relentlessness and timelessness just take your breath away. A walk on a beach replenishes the soul.

I lunched on the harbor in Wellfleet, checked out some art/craft galleries, and took a spin through Nickerson Park on my way back to the Inn. (Somewhere in that forest-campground are two huge lakes which I’m told are surrounded by walking paths… but I haven’t found them yet.) I spent the late afternoon reading in a comfy nook on the third floor landing outside my room.

My sunset beach walk was over at Paine’s Creek Beach. Another beauty!

Afterwards, I went out to dinner and had a delicious chicken parmesan dish at The Marshside. I couldn’t ask for a better way to spend a day. Thanks for checking in on me.

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
~ Howard Thurman