Transitions: “Farewell to the Linear Life”
The linear life is a thing of the past.
It’s time to reconsider, rewrite, and retell our life stories in ways that acknowledge this reality—letting go of comparing our own lives to an ideal that never truly existed.
Bruce Fieler, through his 'Life Story Project'—developed over three years of conversations with hundreds of Americans from all walks of life in each of the fifty states—discovered several key insights:
The average adult experiences about three dozen disruptors in their lifetime, tending to revolve around love, identity, beliefs, work, and body.
These disruptors occur every 12-18 months.
Approximately one in ten of these disruptors escalate into 'Lifequakes'—converging upheavals that significantly reshape our lives.
On average, American adults spend 25 years—equivalent to half of our adult lives—in transition.
I invite you to explore his learning in his TED Talk, and his book ‘Life is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age’. Even if it doesn't feel pertinent at this moment, it is likely to become relevant soon.
TED Talk by Bruce Feiler—’The secret to mastering life’s biggest transitions’
In spirit of these ‘self-as-experiment’ posts, my life has been in significant transition.
Over the past many years a sequence of disruptors built up into a ‘Lifequake’ that is still reverberating.
Amidst it all, I feel surprisingly well—largely due to the accompaniment of loving and supportive partnership and family, meaningful friendships—and plenty of practice.
Thanks to the work of previous great thought-leaders on transitions, conscious movement through transitions has been a thing for me for the past twenty years—and I’m grateful it has been.
While it's tricky to identify which disruptors have been crucial among many for this latest Lifequake, notable ones include:
In 2016, the launch of a multi-year, four-million dollar capital campaign at the Whidbey Institute to build greater lodging and facilities capacity—a tremendous leap of courage and commitment for the whole team.
In 2018, after a disruptor of relationship and home, a trip to the Banff Centre for Arts and Leadership for a program on Life Purpose, followed by learning about my increased genetic risk for Alzheimer's, igniting a profound new dedication to my health—and through this discovering a deep passion for functional medicine and 'Medicine 3.0'.
2020-2021 with the Covid closure of campus—in spite of the grind of scheduling and canceling over 170 events as we awaited the arrival of a ‘new normal’—the team bravely completed construction of the planned buildings.
Also in 2020, entering a fulfilling new relationship and beginning concurrent coaching programs focused on leadership and health coaching.
And two years ago, at the end of March 2022, after a dozen years of full-bodied, full-soul dedication to the place, people, purpose, and work of the Whidbey Institute, closing out my leadership there.
Though it has all felt like a lot—it seems I’m simply in synch with the average American adult!
Through the global pandemic we’ve also been living through a less frequent kind of Lifequake—Collective Involuntary.
Collective Involuntary Lifequakes amplify all other disrupters. In the case of the global pandemic, changes in work and professional direction were so widespread, this lead Bruce to a follow-up study shared through in additional book, ‘The Search: Finding Meaningful Work in a Post-Career World’.
My two years since completing leadership at the Whidbey Institute have been characterized by:
Healing, reflection, learning, and growth—a blend of “the long goodbye”, “the messy middle”, and “new beginnings” as Feiler calls them.
A deep shift in embodied identity from one who leads, to one who is dedicated to supporting health in the leadership of others.
Practicing, refining, and deepening my craft of coaching—for health, leadership, purpose, life.
Sensing, responding, understanding, and clarifying this new expression of service in the world.
Throughout this journey, I've immersed myself in content, gaining new insights and perspectives that are affirming, uplifting, and transformative. I am enjoying sharing highlights of these learnings.
Moving beyond the myth of the linear life through the research and narrative of Bruce Feiler certainly qualifies.
