On Monday, I shared a quiet realization: that “solid ground” can sometimes be a polite word for stagnation. It is easy to recognize when something is broken. The friction tells you exactly where to look. But there is a much deeper, more confusing challenge in leaving something that is still, by all external measures, perfectly functional.
When we build a foundation, whether it is a career path, a creative routine, or a way of showing up online, we are not just building a structure. We are building an identity. We become the person who “does it this way.” Leaving that solid ground feels like a betrayal of the work we have already done.
But growth has a different architecture than stability. Growth requires a period of being “un-housed.”
When we take a leap, we enter the middle space. This is the suspension between what was and what will be. Our instinct is to rush through it, to find the next solid thing to stand on as quickly as possible. We treat the uncertainty as a problem to be solved rather than a state to be experienced.
However, the middle space is where the actual learning happens. It is the only place where we are forced to listen to our own internal compass instead of the rhythm of a pre-set routine.
If you are currently standing in that suspension, feeling the weight of the solid ground you left behind and the fear of the landing ahead, I invite you to consider this: Perhaps the discomfort is not a sign that you have lost your way. Perhaps it is the only way to hear what your work is trying to tell you next.
Growth comes from attention, not speed. And sometimes, the most attentive thing we can do is stay in the air just a little bit longer.
