There is a period in life and leadership that very few people talk about.
It is the space between. The space between the role you once held and the future you cannot yet see. The space between certainty and possibility. The space between who you were and who you are becoming. It can feel like standing in the middle of a vast landscape with no clear direction.
For me, it felt like standing in the rubble, waiting for another shock wave, in the aftermath of disbelief. My old identity had been taken from me. My new identity had not fully emerged yet. It was uncomfortable and it was frightening.
For anyone who may experience a moment like this, when you receive news that changes your existence as you knew it, I cannot give words to assure you it isn't as bad as you think, or that it will be okay. It doesn't feel like that in the moment, and I wouldn't disrespect you or dismiss the impact these moments have on us. What I can say from experience is that after the initial shock, if you can sit in the silence, take the time to recalibrate, find your new north and reconnect with your internal compass and inner voice, this is often where your most profound growth can occur.
It is easy to mistake this space for failure. To find ourselves wading through emotions of rejection, betrayal or abandonment. Injustice. Unfairness. It is easy to believe you should have a plan, an answer or a clear path forward. But transformation rarely happens that way. Nor does revelation or revolution.
Growth requires us to sit in uncertainty long enough for wisdom to emerge. It asks us to trust ourselves when we no longer recognise the landscape around us. It asks us to have faith before we have evidence. It asks us to keep moving even when we cannot yet see the destination. This time is not for the faint-hearted.
I can tell you that it will feel easier to retreat to what is familiar, even if what is familiar no longer serves us. But every significant transformation requires a period of unknowing. The challenge is not to avoid the space between. The challenge is to stay there long enough, no matter the discomfort, until you hear the whispers of your inner voice guiding you to follow your truth. Perhaps what you thought was rejection was a redirection, and only you will know the way. This didn’t happen in days or weeks for me; it took a couple of years, so I strongly encourage you to have a great support system, some trust and faith and ride out the wait. I kept telling myself, “Maybe this happened for me and not to me”, to help me through the roughest of patches. You find your own words to cling to and know you are not only. Many have travelled this unwelcome path before you.
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