The Messy Middle

Something ended. Something hasn’t begun. And sometimes nothing happened at all: you just stopped recognizing the person you are today. Brian calls that stretch the messy middle, and this week he asks Michael the hard question: what is it, really?

Michael’s answer is “thrashing”: the season when the things you used to identify with stop resonating and nothing has replaced them yet. Brian brings back the book from his Big Sur retreat, the caterpillar in the cocoon, and the uncomfortable truth that for a while you’re just goo. They talk about the grief in it, why the universe won’t let you rush it, why pivots are rarely linear, and why you’re not failing if your first move is a small one.

Then they get practical: the tools that kept them steady in the middle. Space, body, people, journaling, making something with your hands, and a routine (or a ritual, if routine sounds too clinical). It’s a waiting room, not a place to live.

In this episode

• “You’re allowed to be goo”
• The universe gives you exactly what you want, just never when you want it
• A slice of the pivot pie is not the whole pie
• Late nights, late mornings. Don’t judge.
• “These years are years I’m not going to get back. I’m stealing from myself.”
• Two questions to sit with: What do I already know? What’s the next step I can take today?

Chapters

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:32 The in-between space
• 02:40 What is the messy middle?
• 04:36 The caterpillar and the cocoon
• 06:04 A waiting room, not a place to live
• 06:41 A moment of grief
• 08:12 Don’t rush it
• 08:56 Exactly what you want, never when you want it
• 09:40 Pivots are rarely linear
• 11:09 A slice of the pivot pie
• 12:00 You’re not failing your pivot
• 13:25 Tools for the messy middle
• 14:49 Space
• 15:38 Body
• 16:05 People
• 16:20 Journaling
• 18:02 Create
• 19:50 Routine and ritual
• 21:29 It’s still your life
• 22:30 I’m not deferring my life anymore
• 23:12 Two questions to sit with
• 24:55 Thanks for listening