I am not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions. After a few weeks they are easy to break, and then you inevitably feel discouraged, stuck, or back to where you started. But there is one resolution that is worth pursuing not just this year, but for the rest of your life. It is a key to long-term happiness and fulfillment…
A critical component of Beyond the Crucible’s recipe for discovering your unique path to a life of significance is to develop a strong team of advisers to help you lean into your gifts and passions along the journey, especially in the aftermath of a crucible. This week, Warwick talks to two men serving in that role to men and women all along the age-and-stage spectrum.
In our conversation this week with Karen, she shares with intimacy, vulnerability and, yes, humor about what she describes as her “crucible life” – the early death of her mother, her brother’s suicide and the cancer that took her husband in 2017 — two months before their 20th anniversary. From the ashes of those tragedies, she explains, she taught herself how to thrive through grief and help others do the same as a certified grief companion.
This week, Warwick talks with Bill Brown – his Harvard Business School classmate in the ‘80s — who describes how he was approaching the pinnacle of his business career, as a finalist in Toro’s search for a new CEO, when a medical diagnosis derailed his plans: he had Parkinson’s. But he has refused to let Parkinson’s beat him.
In our first episode of 2023, we’re joined by guest co-host Lexi Godlewski, who interviews the host of Beyond the Crucible, Warwick Fairfax. His face and voice you know, but the deeper parts of his story you may not! Warwick shares new insights, lessons and perspectives on how he moved beyond his crucible and created a life of significance after the failed takeover of his family’s 150-year-old media business.
Of course, “Bah, humbug!” is not the end of Scrooge’s story… In fact, here at Beyond the Crucible, he could be the poster character for, as we often say, not letting your worst day define you, for moving beyond setback and failure. Especially this year, in fact, one in which we’ve spent a good deal of time exploring how to discover your second-act significance, there may be no better character who comes around every Christmas to study as a means of learning how we each can move from “Is this all there is?” to “This is all I’ve ever wanted.”
The holiday season, according to the songs that celebrate it, is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. It’s when all is calm and all is bright and we join with friends and family to fa-la-la-la-la our way to the new year. But what if we just don’t feel that way? In our final episode of 2022, we talk with author Gary Roe about how to get through these last days of the year while coping with crucibles and being grieved by losses that grow even more intense.
The lessons our guests taught us in our series GAINING FROM LOSS form a stepladder to get you out of the pit of despair after a devastating crucible.
This week, we talk with Marisa Renee Lee, a former official in the Obama White House and a regular contributor to Glamour, Vogue and The Atlantic. She discusses at length the struggles she endured after her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, then battled and succumbed to breast cancer when Marisa was just 25 years old. She set that emotional journey between the covers of her book, GRIEF IS LOVE: LIVING WITH LOSS.
Rabbi Steve Leder has officiated more than 1,000 funeral services, but the realization that he would die himself didn’t truly hit him until his dad passed away. That revelation has led him to find the beauty in what remains — to live his life with nobler, more intentional purpose.
Wisdom that works —
delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to Warwick’s Beyond the Crucible community updates for actionable hope and tools you can use to live with passion and purpose.
