Episode #85: Betsy by Herself on Life Transitions and Shedding Skin

The Discomfort Practice

If you’ve listened to some of my recent solos and interviews, you’ll have picked up that I'm on the cusp of entering a new stage of life. I’ve packed up my life in Barcelona, put my things in storage, finished up my academic year as a Professor and am headed to Mexico on a one-way ticket in just a few days. The preparation for leaving one stage of life and stepping into the next has gotten me thinking a lot lately about transitions and nature and my place in the whole rhythm of things. And, during the deep discomfort and anxiety that has come up as I’ve been in the deep discomfort of not knowing what comes next, of a big transition, I haven’t been the nicest or happiest or most serene version of myself. It's been interesting to observe and it’s gotten me thinking about a snake shedding its skin. As a Wyoming Kid, I have always been taught that, during seasons when you know rattlesnakes are shedding their skin (which they do regularly), do whatever you can to avoid them because they’re scared and blind and MEAN. They can’t see very well, so they’re more likely to strike. But then I started learning more about the process of a snake shedding its skin - and WHY it sheds its skin regularly - and it all started to feel like a very relevant personal metaphor for big moments of transition.

So settle yourself in and consider how this metaphor might be relevant for you, and be sure to listen to the end, when I share one of my favourite poems of all time, Desiderata by Max Ehrman.

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