Episode 22: What’s Gone Is Still Working

Episode 22: Success or Mid-Life Crisis?| What’s Gone Is Still Working

The Recap: Volume vs. Character

In the world of whiskey, a barrel that stays full is a barrel that has failed to mature. When spirit first hits the wood, it is "straight off the still" — clear, raw, and lacking the depth that only comes through movement and loss. 

The "Angel’s Share," that portion of whiskey that evaporates into thin air as it ages, isn't a sign of a leak or a mistake in the craft. It is the evidence of maturation. The loss of volume is the literal physics required to pull the character, the color, and the soul out of the wood and into the spirit.

The Theme: Your Season in the Barrel

If you’ve spent your career in the "safe center" of the barrel, protected by the volume of your success and the thickness of your titles, you might feel a strange sense of stagnation even while things are "full." The "unstillness" you are feeling now is the pressure of a new season driving you out of that protected middle and into the wood of your own story. 

This season of evaporation is not a malfunction; it is a refinement. You are being asked to trust that the space being created is not a vacuum, but the room your purpose needs to finally breathe.

1. The Pour: What is Evaporating?

Identify the "volume" you feel slipping away in this season of your leadership. 

Are there roles, titles, or old paces of "hustle" that are currently vanishing? Instead of rushing to "refill" that space with a new project or a busier schedule, can you sit with the vacancy long enough to name what is actually leaving?

2. The Heat: What is Moving?

In the rickhouse, the whiskey only moves when the environment changes. Identify the "heat" or the pressure in your current season that is forcing you out of the comfortable center of the barrel. 

What parts of your values, your scars, or your experiences are you finally coming into contact with as the volume of your old certainty drops?

3. The Extraction: What is Forming?

The loss of raw spirit is the only way to allow for the extraction of refined character. As your "Adrenaline" evaporates, look for the "Gravity" or the weight of presence that is taking its place. As the "Badge" of your position fades, look for the "Voice" of your internal authority. 

What is being formed in the space that's left?

4. The Finish: What Lingers?

Think of the vacancy in your barrel as an invitation rather than a loss. If this season of "unstillness" is the required path to your maturity, what would happen if you honored the room being made instead of trying to fix it? 

What does the "concentrated" version of your significance look like once the filler is gone?

A Quiet Reflection:

The empty space at the top of the barrel isn't a hole to be filled; it’s the room your purpose needs to breathe. Significance isn’t found by staying full and protected in the middle, but by having the courage to hit the wood and trade your volume for your essence.

Remember, in this season of unstillness: What’s Gone Is Still Working.