I am redefining various aspects of my life. I don’t really know what the end product will look like, but I know it’s a necessary process to undertake right now. Are there aspects of your life that need to be redefined? Are there other things you might redefine? If you choose to take up the challenge, please add a pingback to this prompt.

It’s foggy today. The unseasonably warm weather doesn’t play well with the snow and ice that fell throughout the day yesterday. The fog hangs over the world, muting January into mist. This, I realize, is a metaphor for what is.

There are points in life when a re-evaluation is appropriate. Even necessary. Sometimes, several changes occur at once, and we are left to redefine where we are and what we want. I have been taking a critical look at the pieces of my life that don’t quite fit the way they once did. And as I work to redefine these pieces, alter them, and fit them back into my life, a fog has settled over what is and what has been. I have thrown out two or three—maybe more—pieces, and I’m reconsidering others. I am rebuilding—in some cases, from the ground up. And I’m not quite sure what will emerge.

The fog is obscuring the work that I am doing as I move toward what will be and wait for it to emerge. One day, the fog will begin to dissipate and the new will be revealed.  It’s always that way—that the work of the process is actually invisible to onlookers. When the work is completed and the newness emerges, people will look at me, and they will say, “Hey friend, you look good! Did you get your hair cut?” or “Have you been working out?”

If I look different, that’s just a bonus. The change will be much deeper—a life overhaul, perhaps. It will shift my thinking and adjust my attitude, a small shift that could change everything. Redefining isn’t easy, but if we’re going to keep growing through life’s changes, keep moving forward, redefining is inevitable.