Invincible Summer

When you are right inside a transition, in that stage where you might have only just begun to recognize shifts around you, particularly in a transition that doesn’t quite fit into any category of transition you’ve experienced before, it can just feel like a murky, unformed abyss disconnected to anything. If it isn’t a traditional transition (got married, lost a job, new diagnosis) it may even take time to recognize it as a transition to start with. Not yet being able to name it or explain it is SUCH an uncomfortable place to be in. It can feel next level impossible to make it clear to anyone else, let alone yourself, exactly why you are feeling drained, incapable of doing things like you used to, out of sorts for unknown reasons. And the naming and clarity of what kind of transition it is and will be in your life may be a slow, long process. What can help when it all feels murky? First, it may be empowering to simply note that you are in a transition. You may not know what you are tran

I recently read   Life Is In The Transitions , by Bruce Feiler. It’s a few years old. I first learned about it through Nancy Davis Kho’s Midlife Mixtape  podcast and got so much from that episode. Sometimes, you get everything you need from a book in a good podcast interview. But I’m so glad I went on to read this, particularly now as I’ve fallen in love with coaching people in and through transitions. The book is such an enjoyable read, full of inspiring stories of hundreds of people and the changes they’ve been through, and the meaning they made from those changes.     Some big highlights for me in the book were all the ways the author debunked the idea of linearity when it comes to change. It pushed my thinking beyond Erickson’s stages of development. Quite frankly, I used to find a lot of comfort in the thought of life being so neatly organized, even if my own never matched that. It highlighted just how often we are in some form of a transition, and how much longer these last than

This week I’ve been thinking about how our lives are books we are writing as we live them. At first I imagined one big book for our stories. But I’m wondering if it’s more like our lives are several, or many books. Perhaps there is one for each decade of life? Or one for each epoch, and a significant transition point kicks off the next one? I’m still working out the metaphor.  But particularly I’m learning that each book may have a different set of values that drive us or define what is important for us in each book. And some of these values may carry through each book, but some are only for one particular one. What was super important to me in my twenties are not the same things in my now forties.  So it’s helpful to pause in the book of your life you now find yourself in and ask what are my values now? Are they actually mine, or did I inherit them from someone/somewhere? Are the values I’ve listed in the past still what I’m super passionate about? We can evolve and grow, and so can o

What would you like the next chapter of your life to look like? Feel like? Create? I have been gathering myself -- my experience as a writer, a developer of people, a person passionate about growth, authenticity, and joy -- and I'm beginning a new chapter of life as a COACH. I want to partner with people who want to grow and create meaningful lives for themselves and others. I bring humor, warmth, and a no-pretenses approach to my coaching (as well as extensive training through an ICF-credentialed coaching certification program through IPEC, or the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching). Interested in finding out if coaching would help YOU write that next chapter? Message me here or at christinrice@gmail.com to set up a free 45 minute call or zoom to explore the possibilities.

The recording of my thoughts about THE GREAT INTEGRATION has taken so much longer than planned. The three weeks of winter break didn’t leave mental space or time to write reflectively. It rarely left time to hold a thought long enough between requests for snacks or play time. That’s okay. Those three weeks were important for different reasons. But now, my attention span is returning. And I want to talk about why we often DON’T self-integrate. Or at least, why I haven’t. I’m slow to thinking, processing, writing. But even slower to sharing. My introvert self can find it one step too far to also have to talk about what I’m thinking about, even if I’m often thinking in social media post-style. I’ll think: oh! I want to share this! But often something else is needed from me at that moment and when time does again become available, I’m tired. And the idea of thoughtfully articulating what I originally meant to say is very easy to dismiss as no longer necessary. the ginkgos of 2022 were exc

2022 was the first year I got to coach and be coached for a whole year. As a result, I grew so much. I was rich with incredible coaches! All gleaned from my certification program through the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (or iPEC), fellow companions also learning the skills and mindsets of coaching for beautiful purposes.  Today I want to talk about two specific ways I grew through being coached in 2022:  I worry less. While anxiety certainly still comes looking for me, my relationship with worry is changing for the better. A whole lot of that comes from learning how much power I have in my choices. Just the belief that I have the power to make a choice at all in a situation is huge. But even more meaningful is understanding that I actually have the power to choose my mindset, and whether or not to believe the thoughts I’m thinking or feelings I’m feeling. I can zoom out a bit and see them for what they are, and they are not always capital T Truth. And that I can