A couple falls in love and decides to marry. After the ceremony, a honeymoon of some sort and length is commonplace. This is a pause. A time to relax. A period of adjustment to the new state of legalized coupledom.
We typically don’t ask the newly-married, “what’s next?”
But think about other significant life accomplishments.
Graduations, for example. Or, landing a plum new job. Or, in our advancement world, the conclusion of a successful, multi-year campaign.
In these situations, people routinely ask, “what’s next?”
While that easy-to-ask question isn’t typically meant to add pressure, it can. In fact, that question alone can signal that the accomplishment is being diminished or overlooked.
Instead, we should get into the habit of asking, “how will you pause to celebrate this accomplishment?”
Life accomplishments are good. So are pauses afterwards.
