#273: Sitting in the Liminal
I loooooove Rob’s interpretation of the intention of the Universe shifting from a warning to an invitation. I very much feel the window to shift one’s route is still open. And it’s like there’s a magnet out there pulling me toward it. I don’t think I’m alone in this feeling…
My calling to change course has moved me into a much more corporate job; something I never would have imagined being interested in before. It’s most certainly NOT, as Rob says, the oxymoronic “new normal” — which might suggest something with 10% new parts and 90% last year’s model. For me it’s (almost) entirely “new”.
- Corey
SITTING IN THE LIMINAL
We’re in this liminal period it seems. We’ve left something behind, but we’re not quite fully in the “something else”.
The world is opening up, but it still feels so closed.
We’re taking off our masks but keeping them on right now feels more important than ever.
We’re free to go back to work, but no one wants to go back to work.
We’re all ready for another “roaring 20s”, but it doesn’t feel right to roar at all right now.
What the hell?
The “re-opening” we were promised wasn’t this.
One of the things that fascinates me as I sit in the liminal is how similar – and yet opposite - the feeling is to March and April of 2020. There’s this powerful influence to do something. New.
Despite the horrible disruption of why we were locked down last year, I had this overwhelming sense that the Universe was somehow pausing the whole damn place as a message to me.
It was like the Universe was saying, “okay Robert, you’re deeply unsatisfied with your current situation, and 2019 was the culmination of that, so here you go. I’m going to pause the whole planet so you can get your shit together.”
Now, don't get me wrong, I totally get that this comes from my ego. I recognize that the world didn’t stop just for me.
Except didn’t it?
Anyway, what strikes me now as so interesting is that as the pause button is slowly released, there seems to be this rush of “new” available. The Creator Economy abounds. People moving. Changing careers. Real discussions happening. Opportunity for actual change.
No, the world didn’t just stop for me. It stopped for everyone. It was horrible for some. Heartbreaking. But brilliant and powerful for others. And I don’t think we should feel bad about the latter, because how awful the former was. We can hold both of those things. It’s the liminal.
It’s new. Not a “new normal”. Just new.
I was recently sharing at a gathering of colleagues that one of my big challenges for myself in this time was to start something new that I’m not good at. Maybe I’ll start playing piano again. Maybe I’ll learn a new skill. Something. New.
And in the gathering I wondered aloud why I was thinking of it now. And I think it’s because we’re in this liminal. The opportunity to create something new. It’s the same – yet opposite – of Spring of 2020. Then, it was a stern warning from the Universe – “you better make productive use of this time”. Now, it seems the Universe is welcoming – “you can make this time for you”.
It reminds me very much of a letter that my grandfather wrote me when I was in college about career choices. He said “I’d rather be bad at something I love and try to be better at it, than be good at something I hate and try to get through it.”
Now I’m off to something new.