The Tipping Point

"the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point" - Malcom Gladwell

It’s hard to believe that January is already turning into February…

It’s hard to believe that time marches on regardless of what we say or do...

That I’m waking up some days to greet new lines that have earned their way into the creases around my eyes.

It’s still hard for me to believe that I’m closer to 30 than I am to 18. 

I’m not sure when that happened but in many ways, I’m glad that it did. 

It’s been one hell of a ride since I loaded up my jeep and drove the 376 miles from Knoxville to Charleston 8 years ago. 

The years in between have been both fulfilling and formative. 

The last 8 months have been pivotal…

As I write this, I’m attempting to round up the last 8 years into a matter of a few sentences so that I can catch you up to speed (and bring you along) as I discuss the last 8 months. 

Why should I try such a thing? 

To encourage myself to reflect and extrapolate the mountains as well as the valleys before they’ve lost their real estate in my mind to new highs and lows awaiting to sign leases. 

Though I journal frequently, I’m afraid my perspective on certain matters still fades as I distance myself from them with time. 

I can remember the headlines but often my senses become dull when trying to feel into them (as opposed to merely remembering them).

What events naturally come to mind you might ask?

The summer I began losing my hair in handfuls, for one. 

There’s also the 7 months I spent traveling Europe and reclaiming parts of my heritage that had been tucked away somewhere in a multi-generational, family home in the countryside of Austria. 

Then there’s the time I moved to New York. And the time I moved there again. 

I seem to still vividly recall solemn, rainy, Tuesday nights during my freshman year of college when I would curl up in my bed with a blanket and dining hall takeout. 

I can still feel the pit that sat in my chest and landed in my stomach. The kind of pit you only feel when you’ve just left all comforts you’ve known to pursue something completely intangible. 

I suppose we’re constantly in pursuit of the intangible. Yet, we discover tangible vessels to fill what only the intangible can. 

The last 8 years carry the paradox of lightness and heaviness that you experience from loss.

There’s lightness in relief but heaviness in every corner of grief… keeping in mind that someone or something does not need to die in order to lose it (or them).

In my experience, the loss of someone still living feels harder to accept.

However, I’m realizing that all of these experiences and obstacles have been bubbling to the surface so that the dam can finally break.

After all, according to physics, all actions must have an equal and opposite reaction.

The last 8 months have been pivotal because I believe I’ve experienced what Malcom Gladwell would refer to as a “tipping point.”

I’ve been accumulating small wins, experiencing small growth edges, and building up my tolerance for redirection (aka rejection).

For those of you who are visual, the buildup to the tipping point is like pushing a boulder uphill but all of a sudden someone comes along to help you or the clouds part and the weather is at least nice while you continue pushing your boulder.

The boulder itself does not change but the circumstances around it do:

You get stronger.

Small win.

You find other people or modalities to help you.

Small win.

Finally, you reach the top of the mountain (the tipping point).

Gladwell explains this as "the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point."

The thing about self-development is that the intangible results happen well before the tangible do (at least in my experience).

I worked to feel grounded and then I began attracting opportunities.

I healed a lot of doubt around safety and certainty and then I started seeing returning clients and recurring business.

If you remember nothing else, remember this: the intangible work and experiences lead to tangible results.

Stay tuned for my next article (likely dropping within a week) for more on this topic.