August 30, 2023 • 15 mins
Join me this week as I share what’s REALLY happening when we’re doing something new and everything feels terrible.
I promise it is not what you think!
- What the Great Reorganization means - and the exact cycle so you know what to expect
- What things are happening beneath what you can see
- How all of this relates to believing you ‘should be further along’ that you currently are
The absolute best thing you can take away is this: when everything feels terrible (BECAUSE you are moving towards something new), remember that all of your shit is being reorganized so you have the bandwidth and capacity to have what you are creating.
You will still feel uncomfortable at times, even when you know what to expect, but knowing what’s happening gives you much more choice over your experience.
Episode Notes
Want to begin a journaling habit? The Daily Writing Prompts are supportive and thoughtful prompts to discover what you believe is possible for you, what you want, and what's in the way right now. Learn more HERE
Tap into your intuition before making creative work. If you want to feel intuitive in your creative practice, AND tap into your one-in-eight-billion perspective and contribution, head to www.jenmoulton.com/newsletter and get my Intuitive Creation Audio. You’ll receive an audio that teaches you a unique process to reliably tap in BEFORE you make any creative work so you can overcome procrastination, overwhelm, and where-do-i-start-itis.
Get the transcript and full show notes HERE
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
ATR USB microphone (00:24):
Welcome to today's episode, The Great
Reorganization.
I want to talk to you todayabout what I would call a
phenomenon.
One that I think we allexperience and when we're in it
we think something is terriblywrong.
Here's what it looks like.
We make a decision to movetowards something.
(00:46):
Maybe it's a goal, a project, arelationship, a big, or a small
life change.
And it feels great.
It feels amazing.
To have clarity and to have madea decision or commit to
something and be moving towardsit.
That great feeling lasts for alittle bit.
It depends on how long.
(01:08):
But then, then shit startshitting the fan.
Everything feels terrible.
And it feels like absolutelynothing is working.
And here's the worst part, in myopinion.
When you committed to the newthing, whatever it is for you,
you started swimming away from afamiliar, comfortable shore I'm
(01:32):
going to say, like an island.
For like imagery purposes.
And you started swimming into anunknown expanse of sea, the
ocean.
And at first it feels amazing.
It feels great.
You're swimming and you're like,this is awesome.
I'm making progress.
I know what I'm doing.
And then at a certain point,that's the variable piece when
(01:56):
it happens, but it does happen.
You start to have that holy shitfeeling.
And for imagery purposes, whatit looks like is you've swum too
far away to go back to where youwere, ie you outgrew where you
were, but you are swimming innew seas and you have no idea
(02:16):
what to expect.
Nothing feels comfortable orfamiliar.
And you can't quite see whereyou're going to end up yet.
And you just have to keepswimming.
I think that's the worst partbecause your brain is going to
be screaming at you to pursuefamiliarity.
To go back to what was.
(02:37):
But you can't go back becauseyou outgrew it.
And all you can do is movetowards what's next.
What's next is actually amazing.
But you can't know that yet.
Right now you're freaking the Fout.
Wondering if everything willeventually be okay.
(03:00):
And will it actually work out?
I'm wondering if this soundsfamiliar to you.
Because it does to me.
And in fact, I've done this somany times that I now see it as
a very predictable cycle.
And that's why I want to sharethis with you today.
Even though I know this is whatgrowth looks like, I still flail
(03:22):
around and spend a lot of timewishing I could go back go back
to the shore that I left, thecomfortable island.
I'm not sure you might be ableto hear my dog in the
background.
He just.
He's just enjoying life rightnow.
But I think you don't reallywant to go back, right?
(03:42):
You only want to go back becauseit's comfortable.
Not because you want to go backto what was.
It is hard to choose discomfortwhich is one of the costs of
growth.
We know this.
But I think that this is whywe're here.
Us humans are driven to grow andshift and reach for what's next
(04:04):
for us.
We can't seem to help ourselves.
And I know from experience thatstaying put actually feels way,
way, way, way worse.
This cycle that I'm talkingabout is what I have come to
refer to as The GreatReorganization.
(04:25):
When you were doing somethingnew for the first time, things
are happening outside of whatyou can actually see.
You might be working on a newproject, you're learning a new
skill, doing something for thefirst time.
And it feels like crap a lot ofthe time.
And here's why (04:41):
what we're talking about, you are being
reorganized.
Literally some of your internalparts are being shifted, moved
around, surveyed, reorganized,and maybe transformed.
There is so much more that'shappening than what we realize.
(05:02):
I think a lot of us have anegative inner narrative that
says things like, this should beeasier for me.
Why am I doing this to myself?
Why can't I just be content withwhat I had?
That's a big one that I hear alot.
And I have definitely said that.
Like, why can't I just besatisfied?
The part that feels like garbageis this reorganization that
(05:23):
we're talking about.
Our brains do not like change.
They want us to keep doing whatwe know that works forever and
ever, the end.
Even if it means staying smallerthan what we feel called to be.
Even if it means losing out onincredible life experiences.
(05:45):
And especially if it meansputting ourselves quote at risk,
literal or metaphorical, ourbrains will choose the same old,
same old, instead of putting usat risk, staying small, missing
out on new experiences.
That is the, the garbage, thepiece that feels like garbage
because really what's happeningis it's dissonance.
(06:06):
Right?
It's cognitive dissonance.
You know you're moving towardssomething, you don't yet see
evidence that it's working, thatit's gonna work out, that things
are gonna fall into place.
And so your brain startsfreaking out because the
dissonance between where you areand where you're going, it
doesn't, it's not clear yet.
It doesn't feel safe orpredictable yet.
That's why you feel like thisgarbage-y you feeling.
(06:28):
And we have this like very loudinner narrative that definitely
fuels that.
Another way that The GreatReorganization shows up is by
judging what your process lookslike.
I think we know about creativeprocess, but I also think if we
zoom out that we all have a lifeprocess, we are all on our own
(06:50):
paths and meant to be having ourown experiences and growth
cycles.
And lives.
We're all meant to have a uniquelife, not to like, do what we've
seen other people do.
And we interrupt that uniquepath of our own when we judge
ourselves, when we don't pursuewhat we feel called to do, when
(07:13):
we consult other people or askthem to tell us what to do or
what they did, when we try tofollow a path that is not ours,
that is meant for someone else.
How I see this, and have heard,this is some version of quote
"this is taking too long".
It might sound like I should bebetter at this already, I should
(07:34):
be farther along, I should havemore to show for xyz.
And here's one, like here's themost major thing I've learned is
that things often take way, waylonger than we want them to, and
think they should.
And because of this internaljudgemental narrative that I'm
talking about, a lot of timespeople will give up.
(07:56):
Because they believe what theirbrain is screaming at them-
danger, this is not okay, you'renot going to survive this.
Doing something new or for thefirst time?
Time always takes the longest,is the most uncomfortable, and
requires the most faith.
Because you don't have anyexperience to fall back on.
(08:16):
You have no nervous systemwiring to guide you.
You're showing up, you're doingwhat you know based on your
hunches and your inner callings,trusting yourself over external
authorities, and you're notalways seeing a yield from your
effort yet.
(08:38):
And you still have to show upand keep showing up and
believing that you are going toget there.
That's the cognitive dissonancepiece too.
When you're not seeing outputsfrom your inputs yet.
Yet being the key word, becauseif you keep going and keep
following your callings, keepfollowing what you feel is
important for you, you will seethose outputs from your inputs.
(09:02):
And as a side note, I've saidthis in other episodes, I think
that when we're not seeingoutputs from our inputs when
we're not seeing the results orthe yield from everything that
we're harvesting I believe thatthat means that there's more for
you to learn.
That you haven't quite learnedsomething yet and so you're just
like learning this lesson overand over and over again until
(09:23):
you were like, so over it.
But it's just not time for youyet.
There's still more for you tolearn.
Still more wisdom for you togain in the space that you're
in.
The way that you create amazingthings and this unique life that
is just yours, that there is noblueprint for you to follow is
by doing what I just said: showing up, doing what, you (09:45):
undefined
know, based on your own hunches,what you feel called to do
usually only know the next stepthat's right in front of you you
do not have a map of everything,keeping with it when you're not
yet seeing any yield from yourefforts or any results from your
efforts.
(10:06):
And continuing to show up, youknow, laying it brick by brick
every day and believing inyourself, believing that you're
going to figure it out.
Believing that what you aregaining, whether you see
external results for it or notis still so valuable for you.
Often, this looks likecontinuing to show up for
(10:26):
yourself and whatever you'reworking on when it feels like
nothing is happening, when itfeels like everything is going
wrong, and when it feels likeyou just can't take it anymore
or take it any longer.
When you're experiencing that,here's what I want you to know.
Things are happening.
This is the most importantthing, if you get anything from
(10:48):
this episode, please listen tothis: all of your shit is being
reorganized so that you have thebandwidth and the capacity to
have what you are creating.
I'm going to repeat that.
All of your shit is beingreorganized so that you have the
bandwidth and the capacity tohave what you are creating.
(11:10):
I can almost guarantee thatwhatever you are thinking about
right now as I'm talking aboutthis, whatever you're wanting,
whatever you're working on, ifit was handed to you right now
you would not have the nervoussystem capacity to have it or
maintain it.
I can, I would almost bet on it.
I know that might be hard tohear.
(11:31):
And I know you might be like,no, of course I'm ready for it.
I have just seen this.
I've seen it, you know, I'mpatient zero.
I've seen it in myself for sure.
But I've seen in other peopletoo.
If we don't have the capacityfor something we need to gain
it, we need to earn it.
And often that looks like apretty uncomfortable experience.
(11:53):
It's individual, so I can't sayexactly, but it's what I'm
talking about here.
You commit to something you'reexcited and then shit starts
hitting the fan and everythingfeels terrible.
And then if you stick with it,eventually your capacity grows,
your resilience grows, yourexpertise grows, your wisdom
grows.
Like you become the person thatcan have, or hold the thing that
(12:16):
you're actually working towards.
I believe that more thananything on this planet.
I've really come to believethat: that we are always being
developed for the things that wewant and the things that are
coming our way.
And to trust the process, evenwhen it feels like garbage.
And it usually does feel likegarbage.
(12:39):
The process that I'm talkingabout, this Great
Reorganization, is incrediblyuncomfortable.
I am not going to like sugarcoatthat.
It feels like something isterribly wrong, and it kind of
feels like you might die if youkeep doing it.
But you won't.
And I know, you know this frompast stuff.
You've definitely lived throughthis before.
(13:00):
You are creating somethingamazing.
And no matter what you areactually creating, literally
speaking, no matter what projectyou're working on, no matter
what you are working on havingin your life, pursuing,etc., the
most important thing of all ofthis, is that you are building
your capacity and resilience asa human being.
(13:22):
And that will serve you nomatter what you do.
So if you're like hell bent onthis goal that you have, which I
totally understand that, I amlike that too, sometimes things
don't work out the way that wethink they're going to.
Sometimes things don't fit inour life the way that we think
they're going to.
But it's not all a loss if youare appreciating yourself and
all of the skills and qualitiesthat you developed in the
(13:45):
process of creating andattaining the thing that you're
working towards.
The world needs you to becomethe person who creates and
expresses what is on your heart.
To become everything that youenvision being.
And yes, you need to takephysical action in order to
(14:05):
create it.
But you also need to become thenext evolution of yourself.
And that the next evolution ofyourself is The Great
Reorganization.
It feels terrible, but it istruly amazing when you think
about it.
What a gift it is to be aliveand to evolve.
(14:27):
I am so glad that you were hereand then we get to walk our
paths together.
See you next time.
Same time, same place.
Bye for now.
Welcome to today's episode, The Great
Reorganization.
I want to talk to you todayabout what I would call a
phenomenon.
One that I think we allexperience and when we're in it
we think something is terriblywrong.
Here's what it looks like.
We make a decision to movetowards something.
(00:46):
Maybe it's a goal, a project, arelationship, a big, or a small
life change.
And it feels great.
It feels amazing.
To have clarity and to have madea decision or commit to
something and be moving towardsit.
That great feeling lasts for alittle bit.
It depends on how long.
(01:08):
But then, then shit startshitting the fan.
Everything feels terrible.
And it feels like absolutelynothing is working.
And here's the worst part, in myopinion.
When you committed to the newthing, whatever it is for you,
you started swimming away from afamiliar, comfortable shore I'm
(01:32):
going to say, like an island.
For like imagery purposes.
And you started swimming into anunknown expanse of sea, the
ocean.
And at first it feels amazing.
It feels great.
You're swimming and you're like,this is awesome.
I'm making progress.
I know what I'm doing.
And then at a certain point,that's the variable piece when
(01:56):
it happens, but it does happen.
You start to have that holy shitfeeling.
And for imagery purposes, whatit looks like is you've swum too
far away to go back to where youwere, ie you outgrew where you
were, but you are swimming innew seas and you have no idea
(02:16):
what to expect.
Nothing feels comfortable orfamiliar.
And you can't quite see whereyou're going to end up yet.
And you just have to keepswimming.
I think that's the worst partbecause your brain is going to
be screaming at you to pursuefamiliarity.
To go back to what was.
(02:37):
But you can't go back becauseyou outgrew it.
And all you can do is movetowards what's next.
What's next is actually amazing.
But you can't know that yet.
Right now you're freaking the Fout.
Wondering if everything willeventually be okay.
(03:00):
And will it actually work out?
I'm wondering if this soundsfamiliar to you.
Because it does to me.
And in fact, I've done this somany times that I now see it as
a very predictable cycle.
And that's why I want to sharethis with you today.
Even though I know this is whatgrowth looks like, I still flail
(03:22):
around and spend a lot of timewishing I could go back go back
to the shore that I left, thecomfortable island.
I'm not sure you might be ableto hear my dog in the
background.
He just.
He's just enjoying life rightnow.
But I think you don't reallywant to go back, right?
(03:42):
You only want to go back becauseit's comfortable.
Not because you want to go backto what was.
It is hard to choose discomfortwhich is one of the costs of
growth.
We know this.
But I think that this is whywe're here.
Us humans are driven to grow andshift and reach for what's next
(04:04):
for us.
We can't seem to help ourselves.
And I know from experience thatstaying put actually feels way,
way, way, way worse.
This cycle that I'm talkingabout is what I have come to
refer to as The GreatReorganization.
(04:25):
When you were doing somethingnew for the first time, things
are happening outside of whatyou can actually see.
You might be working on a newproject, you're learning a new
skill, doing something for thefirst time.
And it feels like crap a lot ofthe time.
And here's why (04:41):
what we're talking about, you are being
reorganized.
Literally some of your internalparts are being shifted, moved
around, surveyed, reorganized,and maybe transformed.
There is so much more that'shappening than what we realize.
(05:02):
I think a lot of us have anegative inner narrative that
says things like, this should beeasier for me.
Why am I doing this to myself?
Why can't I just be content withwhat I had?
That's a big one that I hear alot.
And I have definitely said that.
Like, why can't I just besatisfied?
The part that feels like garbageis this reorganization that
(05:23):
we're talking about.
Our brains do not like change.
They want us to keep doing whatwe know that works forever and
ever, the end.
Even if it means staying smallerthan what we feel called to be.
Even if it means losing out onincredible life experiences.
(05:45):
And especially if it meansputting ourselves quote at risk,
literal or metaphorical, ourbrains will choose the same old,
same old, instead of putting usat risk, staying small, missing
out on new experiences.
That is the, the garbage, thepiece that feels like garbage
because really what's happeningis it's dissonance.
(06:06):
Right?
It's cognitive dissonance.
You know you're moving towardssomething, you don't yet see
evidence that it's working, thatit's gonna work out, that things
are gonna fall into place.
And so your brain startsfreaking out because the
dissonance between where you areand where you're going, it
doesn't, it's not clear yet.
It doesn't feel safe orpredictable yet.
That's why you feel like thisgarbage-y you feeling.
(06:28):
And we have this like very loudinner narrative that definitely
fuels that.
Another way that The GreatReorganization shows up is by
judging what your process lookslike.
I think we know about creativeprocess, but I also think if we
zoom out that we all have a lifeprocess, we are all on our own
(06:50):
paths and meant to be having ourown experiences and growth
cycles.
And lives.
We're all meant to have a uniquelife, not to like, do what we've
seen other people do.
And we interrupt that uniquepath of our own when we judge
ourselves, when we don't pursuewhat we feel called to do, when
(07:13):
we consult other people or askthem to tell us what to do or
what they did, when we try tofollow a path that is not ours,
that is meant for someone else.
How I see this, and have heard,this is some version of quote
"this is taking too long".
It might sound like I should bebetter at this already, I should
(07:34):
be farther along, I should havemore to show for xyz.
And here's one, like here's themost major thing I've learned is
that things often take way, waylonger than we want them to, and
think they should.
And because of this internaljudgemental narrative that I'm
talking about, a lot of timespeople will give up.
(07:56):
Because they believe what theirbrain is screaming at them-
danger, this is not okay, you'renot going to survive this.
Doing something new or for thefirst time?
Time always takes the longest,is the most uncomfortable, and
requires the most faith.
Because you don't have anyexperience to fall back on.
(08:16):
You have no nervous systemwiring to guide you.
You're showing up, you're doingwhat you know based on your
hunches and your inner callings,trusting yourself over external
authorities, and you're notalways seeing a yield from your
effort yet.
(08:38):
And you still have to show upand keep showing up and
believing that you are going toget there.
That's the cognitive dissonancepiece too.
When you're not seeing outputsfrom your inputs yet.
Yet being the key word, becauseif you keep going and keep
following your callings, keepfollowing what you feel is
important for you, you will seethose outputs from your inputs.
(09:02):
And as a side note, I've saidthis in other episodes, I think
that when we're not seeingoutputs from our inputs when
we're not seeing the results orthe yield from everything that
we're harvesting I believe thatthat means that there's more for
you to learn.
That you haven't quite learnedsomething yet and so you're just
like learning this lesson overand over and over again until
(09:23):
you were like, so over it.
But it's just not time for youyet.
There's still more for you tolearn.
Still more wisdom for you togain in the space that you're
in.
The way that you create amazingthings and this unique life that
is just yours, that there is noblueprint for you to follow is
by doing what I just said: showing up, doing what, you (09:45):
undefined
know, based on your own hunches,what you feel called to do
usually only know the next stepthat's right in front of you you
do not have a map of everything,keeping with it when you're not
yet seeing any yield from yourefforts or any results from your
efforts.
(10:06):
And continuing to show up, youknow, laying it brick by brick
every day and believing inyourself, believing that you're
going to figure it out.
Believing that what you aregaining, whether you see
external results for it or notis still so valuable for you.
Often, this looks likecontinuing to show up for
(10:26):
yourself and whatever you'reworking on when it feels like
nothing is happening, when itfeels like everything is going
wrong, and when it feels likeyou just can't take it anymore
or take it any longer.
When you're experiencing that,here's what I want you to know.
Things are happening.
This is the most importantthing, if you get anything from
(10:48):
this episode, please listen tothis: all of your shit is being
reorganized so that you have thebandwidth and the capacity to
have what you are creating.
I'm going to repeat that.
All of your shit is beingreorganized so that you have the
bandwidth and the capacity tohave what you are creating.
(11:10):
I can almost guarantee thatwhatever you are thinking about
right now as I'm talking aboutthis, whatever you're wanting,
whatever you're working on, ifit was handed to you right now
you would not have the nervoussystem capacity to have it or
maintain it.
I can, I would almost bet on it.
I know that might be hard tohear.
(11:31):
And I know you might be like,no, of course I'm ready for it.
I have just seen this.
I've seen it, you know, I'mpatient zero.
I've seen it in myself for sure.
But I've seen in other peopletoo.
If we don't have the capacityfor something we need to gain
it, we need to earn it.
And often that looks like apretty uncomfortable experience.
(11:53):
It's individual, so I can't sayexactly, but it's what I'm
talking about here.
You commit to something you'reexcited and then shit starts
hitting the fan and everythingfeels terrible.
And then if you stick with it,eventually your capacity grows,
your resilience grows, yourexpertise grows, your wisdom
grows.
Like you become the person thatcan have, or hold the thing that
(12:16):
you're actually working towards.
I believe that more thananything on this planet.
I've really come to believethat: that we are always being
developed for the things that wewant and the things that are
coming our way.
And to trust the process, evenwhen it feels like garbage.
And it usually does feel likegarbage.
(12:39):
The process that I'm talkingabout, this Great
Reorganization, is incrediblyuncomfortable.
I am not going to like sugarcoatthat.
It feels like something isterribly wrong, and it kind of
feels like you might die if youkeep doing it.
But you won't.
And I know, you know this frompast stuff.
You've definitely lived throughthis before.
(13:00):
You are creating somethingamazing.
And no matter what you areactually creating, literally
speaking, no matter what projectyou're working on, no matter
what you are working on havingin your life, pursuing,etc., the
most important thing of all ofthis, is that you are building
your capacity and resilience asa human being.
(13:22):
And that will serve you nomatter what you do.
So if you're like hell bent onthis goal that you have, which I
totally understand that, I amlike that too, sometimes things
don't work out the way that wethink they're going to.
Sometimes things don't fit inour life the way that we think
they're going to.
But it's not all a loss if youare appreciating yourself and
all of the skills and qualitiesthat you developed in the
(13:45):
process of creating andattaining the thing that you're
working towards.
The world needs you to becomethe person who creates and
expresses what is on your heart.
To become everything that youenvision being.
And yes, you need to takephysical action in order to
(14:05):
create it.
But you also need to become thenext evolution of yourself.
And that the next evolution ofyourself is The Great
Reorganization.
It feels terrible, but it istruly amazing when you think
about it.
What a gift it is to be aliveand to evolve.
(14:27):
I am so glad that you were hereand then we get to walk our
paths together.
See you next time.
Same time, same place.
Bye for now.
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