Do the Next Thing

This blogpost is going to be short.
Because we’ve got things to do. You and I.
And more specifically, it's the next thing we've got to do.
But before I explain, let's talk about me…

I’m a little bit sad.

We just cleaned up our outdoor furniture, mowed the grass one last time, docked the boat, and I picked what is probably my last bouquet of flowers from the garden this year.

So dramatic, I know. But it really was a lovely summer.

My husband and I live half of the year in the Netherlands (where I was born) and the other half in the US (where we raised our family).

And around this time of year, we deep-clean the house, pack our bags, and kiss everyone goodbye—en route to the US. Back to our dear friends, work, sunshine, and yes, Trader Joe’s.

It’s a dream to have lived this way for the last couple of years, and I am so very grateful. Really, I am.

But... logistically, let me tell you, it ain’t easy.

Schedules, cars, cleaning, doctor appointments, houseplants, notebooks, and the biggest question of all: Where do I have which shoes?
So organized, I know.

Besides the whole moving-across-the-world thing, it happens to be a busy season for both of us professionally.

My Helmut is—as we speak—somewhere on a boat in the vast Pacific Ocean, on an expedition searching for Amelia Earhart’s plane.
So fantastic, I know.

And I am putting the finishing touches on new jewelry. A brand-new collection called BLOOM, coming next month.
And two weeks from now, I’ll be on a little book tour.
Many wonderful things, and I don't take any of it for granted.
But also—so many things.

Last week, I was looking at everything I still needed to get done and truly didn't know where to start. But somehow, I started.

I did one thing. And the next.
Followed by the next.

I answered that email. Made that decision. Finished that card. Made soup. Stopped postponing that phone call. Washed the sheets.

And you know what?
It was quite lovely how it all came together.

And now, you might think this is very easy for me to say after I just told you that my biggest problem is not remembering where I left my shoes.

Fair enough. Don't take it from me.
Instead, let me tell you whom I got it from.

A story. Let's travel back to the 1950s. Elisabeth, a young woman, was living with her husband Jim and baby Valerie in Ecuador, where they were missionaries. Jim and four other men traveled into the jungle, hoping to make contact with the Waodani people. They did.
A few days later, the five men were killed.

Elisabeth tells the story much better than I ever could. For that I do recommend her books.
After Jim's death, she returned to their jungle station as a widow and single parent, facing responsibilities she hadn't been trained for. And in all those confusions and uncertainties, what helped her was just simple:
Do the next thing.

Her circumstances were very different from mine.
And your life might be different from both of ours.

But I believe that growth doesn’t get sidetracked by the highs and lows of life. We do.
Nor does growth happen overnight.
But when we steadily do the next thing, and the next, we grow.

And that’s where I leave you.

Now go, do the next thing.
Not all the things.
Just the next one.

And then, well… the next.

Questions:

1. What feels super overwhelming right now, simply because you are holding all of it at once?

2. Which one is actually the next thing?

3. What have you made harder by trying to see the whole way forward? 

4. What if growth is already happening—not because you have figured it all out, but because you keep doing the next thing?