Today, I worked on a painting I started a couple days ago. I took it in multiple directions. None of them felt alive. So I covered it over with white house paint (Sherwin Williams Pure White, a soft and balanced warm off-white).
This is something you have to be willing to do in order to move forward: refuse what isn’t working, not because it failed, but because you’re ready to move on to a new truth, even if you don’t know what that new truth is.
Ask yourself: what is no longer working in my life? And be ready to let go of it.
Midlife asks you to be honest with yourself about what’s not working. Maybe you are ready to let go of a role you’ve outgrown, an identity that feels wrong though you keep rehearsing it, an obligation you no longer believe in.
If you are a mother, you may still be organizing your life around other people’s needs, though your children have reached adulthood. If you built your identity on expertise (as I did, in technology), you may still feel pressure to stay fluent in everything new in that domain. If you once optimized your body, your career, or your style, you may still be spending energy maintaining a version of yourself that no longer fits.
Take out some metaphorical white paint and create some breathing room on the canvas of your life. Say goodbye to what’s not working.
Today, I let go of what no longer serves me, so I can make room for what wants to unfold.