Do you feel unclear about what this “next phase” of life looks like for you?

I spent the last two weeks in Kotor, Montenegro—one of the most beautiful and magical places in the Balkans.

It’s also special to me for a specific reason:

I was here just 4 years ago, only months after ending my 19-year marriage. I felt unsure and afraid. But a profound emotional and spiritual shift happened here that changed the course of my life and my work.

I’ve written a bit about this experience before, and you can read more about it here. I’m also including a longer version of the story in my upcoming book, so stay tuned!

For now, here is a small snippet of the story:

It’s a steamy, August afternoon and I am floating in the Azul waters of the Bay of Kotor surrounded by steep, limestone mountains.

I’m in awe of the beauty and the tranquility here, yet my insides are churning.

My mind reaches back to months earlier when my therapist said I have a blank canvas on which to create my new life.

The anger I felt surprised me. And the angst.

I hated that canvas immediately.

It was white.

Blank.

I had no idea what to do with it. No idea where to start. And for that matter, I didn’t want to start over.

I began to refer to it as “the damn blank canvas.”

It frustrated me.

It scared me.

It made me feel lost.

And of course, that stark white canvas is inserts itself into my serene surroundings today, taunting me with all that I don’t know. Here I am in paradise and that damn blank canvas is back.

With my ears underwater and all sounds but those inside of my heart muffled, I focus on my breath. Everything and everyone around me fades into the background. I feel the muscles in my legs and shoulders relax. My mind feels just a bit freer, and I simply invite wisdom to speak.

This time a calm Voice, deep inside, simply says,

What if you just choose one color and begin?

I nearly gasp at the simplicity of it all and I pop my head up out of the water.

The Voice continues.

What if you choose one brush and let curiosity lead? Pick the color you like best, and start there. It doesn’t matter if you change your mind or need to switch colors or even paint over it all. All those actions will only add texture and richness. You don’t need to know what the picture looks like before you begin.

Start living. Start writing. Start learning. Ask for help if you need it. Accept that things are different, and step into all of it. Just simply begin.

I close my eyes and memorize how this experience feels in my body as the water carries me. The noises around me feel distant, in contrast to the Voice that seems clear and distinct, influenced by no one.

“Remember this feeling,” I whisper to myself.

I swim back toward the ladder near my chair and I sit down to jot this note in my journal:

I give myself permission to go home and be curious. To notice and learn more about the things that interest me—to simply choose one color and play—without having to create an entire life or business plan around it. To start with a single color, a simple interest, a basic idea, and see if it leads to another.

Finally, I decide to trust that everything will unfold in its time.

So today I am in Montenegro looking out at this exact same bay 4 years later, and I am a transformational travel coach for women. I have taken two more long-term trips while working and maintaining two businesses and I have a book manuscript almost ready for beta readers!

Do I still have huge swaths of ideas and projects yet unfinished or not where I’d like them to be? Of course I do.

But I also did it. I picked one color, and I began.

And lives have been changed because of it.

Because of this, being back here now feels full circle. This is the place where God reminded me that I am not alone and that Presence is with me wherever I go.

This is the place where I was frustrated, not knowing what to do next. I thought I had to have everything figured out.

But that Voice gave me permission to not know. To be curious. To play. To try new things. To ask what I love. And then have the courage to step into it. To possibly fail. To walk into my life and create my new canvas. One brush stroke, one color, one section at a time.

If you’re in a place of transition, can you relate?

What if I feel stuck?

Do you feel frozen or stuck when it comes to knowing what next steps to take in this season of life?

If you’re in a season of transition or a new phase of your life that seems uncertain, and your afraid of taking a new or a wrong step, my encouragement to you is this:

When the seed of an idea or a longing comes to you, the bravest thing you can do is take one step toward it.

Step into the fear. Into the unknown.

Then take one step more.

You don’t have to leap. Just one step at a time will do.

Until one day, you will be there, at that idea, at that longing.

It’s no longer a seed now.

It’s your reality.

And you made it!