What's Next?
June is Convocation month and that's got us asking: Where to next?
Here’s a question: Left or right? Which direction in life do you get to take next?
It’s a question posed frequently in my house. With two kids graduating (one high school, one university) in two June convocations, we’re all asking the same question: What now? Where are we going next?
Our answers may sound easy: “I’m going to university” or “I’m heading off to see the world.” But there’s a niggling voice in all of us that questions whether the easy answers are the best.
The question What’s Next? can be daunting. It can spoil momentum. It can stop us in our tracks.
Every life turn I’ve ever made has led to another, and another, and another, shaping the course of my life. Journalism School-to-Ski Bum-to-Reporter-to-Editor-to-Author. It’s astonishing to look back and examine the path. It leaves me asking myself: Did I make sound decisions? Were all of those left and right turns I took actually right?
Now that I’m facing two Graduation Days in a single month, I’m questioning my own life’s journey way too much.
I can’t help but struggle with the realization that somewhere, sometime along my journey I made poor choices, turned down the wrong roads, lost friends, spoiled stellar opportunities as a result. Should I have ditched that editor job offer in Florida to go skiing, for example? Yes. Should I have wasted six months crying over a long-distance love gone bad? No. Should I have worn that puffy pink dress and satin shoes to prom in 1986? Probably not. Now that I’m facing both of my children’s Graduation Days in a single month, I’m questioning my own life’s left-and-right decisions way too much.
As I often do in life, I turn to my favourite writers for inspiration. A little goggling leads me to author Ann Patchett. Spoken at a graduation convocation for her alma mater, her words make me think:
“Coming back is the thing that enables you to see how all the dots in your life are connected, how one decision leads you to another, how one twist of fate, good or bad, brings you to a door that later takes you to another door, which aided by several detours—long hallways and unforseen stairwells—eventually puts you in the place you are now.”
Ah, I say. I get it now. Sitting here in the crowd, watching the grads in their gowns and caps…it’s all making sense. Finally, I’m connecting the dots.
The path I’ve taken may not be the most lucrative. It may not contribute to the betterment of the world. And judging by my 1986 grad photos, maybe I should have turned left at some perilous intersections instead of turning right.
But that’s not the point.
The point, as my mother always told me, is the act itself. Turn left, turn right, hold your course—deciding which way to go is the best part. It’s the journey, always the journey. The journey IS the best part. What’s over that hill? What’s around that corner? That’s not daunting, that’s a blast!
It’s all in how you frame the question. It’s not What’s next? The better question is: Where do we get to go next?
QUESTION: So… tell me, here and now: What’s your plan? What’s up for you? Where do you get to go next?
WHAT’S NEXT FOR LORI?
Drop by, say hi at one of these Summer 2025 events:
Author Talk: Bracebridge Library, Saturday June 21, 1 pm
Evening with the Author: Muskoka Discovery Centre, Gravenhurst, Wednesday July 2, 6 pm
Book Signing & Sale: ACBS Vintage Boat Show, Gravenhurst Wharf, Saturday, July 12, 9-5
SWS Muskoka Ladies Night, Port Carling, July 17 & August 3
Farmer’s Markets:
Bracebridge June 28
Bala June 30 & August 11
Orillia July 5 & August 16
Dwight July 16 & 30
Port Carling July 17 & August 14
I Hope…
I hope you read my book, Summers with Miss Elizabeth, and I hope you love the story as much as I do. I’m working on producing an audiobook now, out soon. And I’m in the midst of writing the prequal, its working title: Summers with Gin.
You can order Summers with Miss Elizabeth in print or e-book HERE or pick up a copy at one of the shops listed on my website loriknowles.com.
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT here on Substack (below) or on Instagram or Facebook, I’d love to hear from you.
Lori Knowles is a writer, author, journalist, co-editor of Ski Canada magazine, and editor of MuskokaStyle.com. Her first novel, Summers with Miss Elizabeth, was published May 1, 2024. See loriknowles.com for more information, and stay tuned to LORI’S STORIES.
I don't think it's so much as where you go next, as long as you have multiple trips booked in your Air Canada account ;) For me, Portugal with the Canadian National Agility Team!
Hi Lori. A fun read. It takes me back many years revisiting wonderful memories of our boys and the route my own life took depending on whether I turned right or left! Thanks for sharing. xo