A note to anyone who’s in the middle of figuring out what comes next.
I’m not going to pretend I planned any of this.
At 60, I was at the top of a career I’d spent four decades building. Lighting design, live production, events — I was good at it, I was busy, and I had no particular reason to stop. And then, for a combination of reasons that I’m still sorting through, I stopped.
What followed wasn’t a crisis. It wasn’t a breakdown. It was something quieter and stranger than that — a long, slow look at what I actually wanted the next chapter to be. And the honest answer was: I didn’t know.
The Pivot Nobody Sees Coming
Here’s what I’ve noticed about major life transitions: nobody tells you about the middle part. The books cover the before and the after. The before is the burning platform — the thing that makes you leave. The after is the triumphant reinvention story, cleaned up and made inspiring for an audience.
The middle is messier. It’s the part where you don’t know yet. Where you’re taking notes on your own life and not sure what they mean. Where you make decisions that feel significant but you can’t explain why.
I drove 50 states. I picked up a camera. I started paying attention to light in a completely different way. None of it felt like a plan at the time. In retrospect, it was.
Who This Category Is For
If you’re in your 50s or 60s and something has shifted — a career ended, a relationship changed, a health scare rearranged your priorities, or you just woke up one morning and realized you’d been running on autopilot — this is for you.
Not because I have the answers. I don’t. But because I think there’s value in watching someone figure it out in real time. And because the second act, if you’re willing to actually build it instead of just describe it, can be the most creative chapter of your life.
I’m not retired. I’m not winding down. I’m just finally working on the right things.
The second act doesn’t look like you planned. That might be the whole point.
Still curious. Still creating. Still figuring it out.
— Michael
