The scholar finished her several hundred-page dissertations, was successful in her defense, graduated, held the bound copy in her hands, and after all the work, was proud of this singular achievement. However, In the next few weeks she began to experience an unusual emotional low. Having discussed this with others who had her experience she discovered why. It was a natural funk having succeeded in achieving her PhD. She was however now left with the question. “Now what?”
The elite athlete had trained his whole life and had been successful in arriving at the peak of his sport. His name was engraved on a trophy that few could boast of. His life achievement as well as his dad’s, was accomplished! He had trained his whole life for this moment. At his retirement from professional sports he asked, “Now what.” He discovered it was more than a question, but an existential crisis.
After three days of climbing, the mountaineer arrived at the 18,000-foot summit. It had been a grueling and dangerous climb. He would not know until later that six had died just below him in the same attempt. He came off the mountain with a huge accomplishment under his belt. At the base of the mountain, he was left with a query. “Now what?”
The marathon runner finished the 26-mile event. The training leading up to the race was months in the making. She had sacrificed a great deal of time, and energy. Exhausted physically and emotionally after the race, she wondered, “Now What? “
The recent pandemic has left the world with a Now What moment. We do not know for a certainty what life will be like given the ramifications of such an event.
Getting there is what we do in life. We get to work, to the restaurant, to a holiday destination, to a goal or achievement completed. Given the context of what it means to “get there” what comes next looms. Some discover that a huge accomplishment often leads to a temporary depression. Many people look forward to retirement. It is there that they can collect a pension, sit on the sofa, travel the world, pursue other goals that will excite them. That could become old very soon, especially when a thoughtful plan for retirement had not been formulated in the first place.
When a major achievement is realized, what happens next may be uncertain. For some the goal was the achievement. Often it is accompanied by a temporary funk. It can however lead in the pursuit of higher goals. The energy needed to achieve another similar goal may allude. “It was just too much work.” Nevertheless, the question is asked; “Now What ”
One could argue that personal achievements should not be given a higher priority than they deserve. The question “Now What” should be entertained before the goal is set. If a goal is put in perspective, we may discover that unfortunately its value is connected to our personal identity. It could be further argued that who we are is not based on what we do or what we have done. It is based on something much greater. Certainly, achieving a goal can add to our self confidence, to human knowledge, human betterment. So if we pursue a goal, any goal, for the greater good it can achieve, for example, humanity as . hole, then a great and wonderful thing has been achieved. For example, a vaccine created by a team, to aid people with a disease is a great accomplishment. We become victims of an accomplishment when we do not see the overall greater good, the thing that can benefit many. A runner then who finishes a race, a mountaineer who climbs a peak, an academic who has written a dissertation, can use those accomplishments for others. They can say to the one who wants to accomplish something, “I did it, and you can too with will, perseverance, a strategy, towards a greater purpose. The greater purpose will not be you but seen in those who have benefited from it. But don’t make it about yourself. That will create an empty feeling, the What Now question.”
Dr Bryan Hagerman RCT
St Paul’s Church Outreach Counsellor
Halifax, NS
