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b e a m b i t i o u sb e p r o u d t a k e o n s p a c e You know exactly what you don't want. You definitely don't want to stay in that job. You definitely don't want to stay in that one-bedroom apartment. You don't want a man who can't hold things down on his own. You don't want to keep showing up to the gym without a real plan. And yet, there are exactly two things you do know: That you are meant for something bigger. That you have no idea how to get there. And that drives you insane. Understandably so. Let me put it into context. Mina and I first called it the "in-between." You're in between — done with the past, but with no clear picture of what comes next. No defined goal. It's a place where you feel genuinely lost. In your identity, in space and time. In your own existence. The neutral zone is a nowhere between two somewheresThe neutral zone is a nowhere between two somewheresThe neutral zone is a nowhere between two somewheres — forward motion seems to stop while you hang— forward motion seems to stop while you hang— forward motion seems to stop while you hang suspended between was and will be."suspended between was and will be."suspended between was and will be." The neutral zone is a nowhere between two somewheres — forward motion seems to stop while you hang suspended between was and will be."— William Bridges “ I h a v e n o f u c k i n g c l u e w h a t I a m d o i n g ” Bridges describes it almost perfectly. This zone. Liminality. A concept t hat originally comes , from anthropology (the science of the human being) and carries the Latin word l imen at its root. Limen means threshold. You are standing on the threshold, because you have left the old behind and the new is somewhere out there in the distance ahead of you.
And for us — ambitious women — being in liminal space is not easy. We hold ourselves to such high standards that the moment stillness even grazes us, we immediately conclude we're failing. But I want to ask you to reframe it. See the liminal space, the place where it feels like you're not moving forward, as an opportunity. Where it is empty, much can be built. Where it only seems empty, there is room for something new. Something big. There, you can create motion. "The moment in between what you once were, and who you are now becoming, is where the dance of life really takes place." — Barbara De Angelis Creating momentum is the answer. I know this because I lived it, movement creates clarity, not the other way around. Crush the idea that only visible results count as progress. Think about clouds. When the air is still, you watch them for a few seconds and they seem frozen in place. But film them in time-lapse and you'll quickly see they are moving — steadily, purposefully. The unbearable, suffocating emptiness you feel cannot be dissolved through overthinking. You are women. Everything achievers. Batman, but make it female. Of course it feels like failure when you can't point to concrete steps toward a goal you can barely define.all or nothing
cut hereThe VariableA R E T Eissue no.1..equals the cognitive performance of someone with a0.05% blood alcohol level. You wouldn't drive. But you'drun a meeting.17+HOURS AWAKE1stTO SHUT DOWNThe prefrontal cortex, your seat of decision- making,impulse control, and creativity, is the first brainregion impaired by sleep loss.40%LESS CREATIVEOne night of poor sleep reduces creative problem- solvingby up to 40%. The ideas you're waiting for? They come after a good night sleep.∅Deep SLEEPYour brain flushes toxic metabolic waste during deep sleep. Skip it and the buildup stays (Glymphatic System for anyone interested).=SAME TIME EVERY NICHTIrregular sleep times disrupt your circadian rhythm as severely as jet lag, even if total hours are the same. Consistency trains every system in your body.18°COPTIMAL ROOM TEMPERATUREThe prefrontal cortex, your seat of decision- making,impulse control, and creativity, is the first brainregion impaired by sleep loss.
the DNA for what actually helped me through this After reading about the in-between, about past versus present, you might be wondering: okay, but how do I actually deal with this? Is there a skill I can learn? I’m happy to tell you: there is. And it’s called Tolerance. Not the kind of tolerance we extend to other people when we disagree with them. Or to our mothers when they vacuum on Sunday mornings — though that one is probably closer to acceptance. What I mean isSituations like the ones described in this issue — uncomfortable precisely because there is nothing concrete to do. Waiting without knowing what for. Hoping without a clear roadmap. Reaching into the void, but trusting. And what we need here is tolerance. To tolerate not knowing what’s coming. To accept that this is simply part of life. tolerance toward undefined situations. Knowing what’s coming. To accept that this is simply part of life. Because what we must avoid at all costs is paralysis — floating in the nothing and doing nothing. That ends in depression. But if we treat the situation in front of us like a person we have to tolerate for a while, the image shifts. It becomes bearable. Even manageable. Concrete Steps: Make decisions without complete information. Initiate movement without a clear goal. Tolerance doesn’t mean standing still and watching. You can move within tolerance — the same way you can hold a conversation with someone whose opinion you don’t share, but respect. And finally: don’t measure yourself against external benchmarks when there aren’t any. Tolerance at this level is a skill too few ambitious women have — and too many need. The moment you find yourself in one of these phases, remember: only stillness means losing. Movement, any movement, keeps you in the game.SKILLsessionsessionsessionsessionit’s all about toleranceit’s all about tolerance
Keep decisions intentionally small. Every day, make one decision without googling, without a second opinion. Restaurant, route, workout. Your brain learns: I can decide without perfect information.OneTWO Have a conversation about nothing concrete. No networking, no pitching, no “so what are you working on.” Just a conversation without an agenda. Relationships that aren’t functional keep you grounded when everything else is blurry. Notice the urge to plan — and wait. When the reflex kicks in to press everything into a five-year plan: notice it, write it down, wait 24 hours before acting. Don’t suppress it, just delay it. Leave something intentionally unfinished. Put a book down halfway. Don’t think an idea all the way through. Trains your brain: incompleteness is not an emergency. One day without productivity tracking. No habit app, no list, no evening review. Just live. For overachievers, this is harder than a 6am workout. Start something without an endpoint. Not “I’m going to run to reach X” — just run. No goal, no app, no review. Movement for the sake of movement.threeFOurFivesix no one burns brighter than the person who sees it through d a i l y p r a c t i c e s t o i n t r o d u c e i n t o y o u r d a i l y r o u t i n e