The Messy Middle of Transformation

Do you ever set out with the absolute BEST of intentions, only to have things just… not go your way? Like, spectacularly not go your way?

This week felt like a personal obstacle course designed by Murphy's Law. And you know what’s funny? I signed up for the course!

Let me paint you a picture:

• My personal trainer overhauled my nutrition plan pretty significantly, flipping my eating habits upside down after nearly four years of consistency.

• A simple dentist appointment cost me $300, three hours in the chair, and four shots in the gums.

• I somehow managed to overdraw my checking account while trying to add money (who does that?).

• A late afternoon meeting sent me to the gym at peak hours, surrounded by what felt like a synchronized swarm of people who I am convinced showed up just to make my workout longer than it needed to be.

• My haircut ended up a tad shorter than I envisioned.

• And to top it off, I tried to film a “quick” TikTok/Instagram video, but faced a comedy of errors: a rebellious phone and microphone that kept falling from my dashboard, a sudden inability to speak coherently, an overheating iPhone, and finally, a video of my dashboard instead of my face when I mistakenly used the wrong facing camera for my most successful “take.”

Talk about a week, right? Sounds like a series of carefully orchestrated failures. But truthfully, it was all my own doing.

I made the appointments, I told my personal trainer and stylist what I wanted, I voluntarily went to the gym during its busiest hours, and I sat in a hot car for half an hour to trying to film a 2 minute video in my quest to become a content creator.

The Lesson: Embracing Responsibility

One of the most challenging truths to accept is that we create our own suffering, as the Buddha teaches. In every situation, there's a lesson to be learned, and how we react to those inevitable moments when reality clashes with our expectations matters far more than the circumstances themselves.

When was the last time you imagined something going one way, only to have reality deliver something completely different? How did you react? Did you let it derail you, or did you find a way to learn from it?

The Pendulum Squat and the Pain of Progress

This week, while adjusting to my new meal plan, I didn't exactly crush my leg day workout, specifically the dreaded pendulum squat. After my third set, I unleashed some frustration on my personal trainer, admittedly unfairly. After a moment of reflection and coming back down to Earth, I realized that my anger stemmed from the misalignment of my expectations and reality—I had hoped to add more weight and hit a new PR and my body wasn’t having it.

In my post-workout reflections, several lessons were revealed. Most simply, as I've talked about before (but can always use a reminder): progress is never linear. Sometimes you have really great workouts and hit a PR on every exercise, and sometimes just showing up is progress enough. We all deserve a little grace and patience on our journies to becoming the version of ourselves we aspire to be, and while it is simple to offer such a sentiment to others, it isn’t always easy to award it to ourselves when we need it most.

Aside from this isolated event in my workout, I am definitely feeling some “growing pains” if you will as I step into this new career and lifestyle. Change isn’t always decorated and delivered in a nice, neat box with a bow on top, and true transformation can be messy.

And here's the thing: it's supposed to be.

Change shouldn't feel comfortable or normal. Growth shouldn't be a mindless process that happens unconsciously. Transformation isn't supposed to feel like you've always felt. If it does, are you really growing?

The Nature of Transformation

This week, I've been reminded that personal evolution requires more than just a baseline effort; it demands an active mindset focused on the desired outcome. We see this reflected in nature around us all the time. Deer shed the velvet on their antlers by rubbing against trees for weeks, preparing for mating season. When snakes or birds molt, shedding their skin, I can only imagine what an itchy process that, at their level of consciousness, they can’t wait to finish. When crustaceans outgrow their shells, they experience the uncomfortable pressure of being contained in a shell that is too small and are forced to vacate. Think of getting a sunburn—the peeling and healing process is itchy, painful and uncomfortable sometimes. But the only way to the other side is through the discomfort, not evading it.

We can be tempted to hide, to run, and to desperately wish we were lying in the green grasses of the sanctuary of our previous, comfortable self. But, if you keep doing the same things, you will keep getting the same results. By embracing the discomfort of change, we allow transformation to take place and we invite the leveled-up version of ourselves to take over and show us the way, even if it is a little itchy and uncomfortable. It is only by entering the caccoon that we can emerge as who we are meant to be.

I am entering my caccoon now, but instead of being afraid of the darkness, I am focusing on enjoying the experience of transformation, inviting the challenge, and lying in eager anticipation.

The Process is the Point

It bears repeating that the process is the point, and it is in the process that we actually learn more about ourselves and who we are becoming.

When I was a teacher, I came across students who, even at 17 years old, were complacent (at best). I had students who didn’t practice or demonstrate any desire to get better on their instrument, some of them going four years without making marginal improvements to their musicianship, despite my best encouragements.

How often do we become that way in our lives, even as adults?

We settle into a routine, we find a job that is comfortable and stable, we develop mindless habits that maintain our status quo, and we actively avoid anything that threatens our curated comforts. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being comfortable where you are, but I envision a fulfilling life as one that is always looking for the next river to cross, the next mountain to climb, and the next adventure to be had.

This life is not just possible for me, it’s possible for you as well!

That’s why I created The Uninterrupted Life: to empower you with the mindset to find creativity, playfulness, adventure, and growth - in whatever form that means for you and your life. I truly believe that we can create a community of people who encourage each other to live lives uninterrupted by complacency in mediocrity, and a space to foster finding fulfillment every day of our lives.

Embrace the "Bad" Weeks

Sometimes you have a bad week. Sometimes you fail on your pendulum squat, get a haircut that is too short, and get stuck in the jaw four times by a dentist trying his best to not make people hate his entire profession.

But it is only a bad week if you let it keep you down, if you allow it to obscure your joy, and if you give it permission to affect your process. The work is not in avoiding the process, the work is in changing our mindset to embrace what we learn along the way.

Your life is TODAY. Not next week, not in five years, not when you can finally retire to Florida and fish every day. Your life is TODAY, so go out and live it.

Until next time, live uninterrupted.

~Coleman