Uncertainty Is A Signal That Change Is Working

Uncertainty has a way of making smart people feel broken. When a marriage ends, burnout hits, a career shift forces your hand, or co-parenting stress reshapes your week, the hardest part is often the same question: what do you build now? I’m Danny DeJesus, and on The Next Baseline I share a practical way to move through life transitions without turning them into drama or pretending they never happened.

I walk you through my C2R2E life transition framework: collapse, confrontation, realignment, reclamation, and elevation. We talk about why transitions rarely stay in one area of life and how they ripple into identity, routines, confidence, finances, health, relationships, and direction. You’ll hear what each phase looks like in real life, why naming your season creates clarity, and how values and boundaries become the backbone of rebuilding. You can be elevating in one area while collapsing in another, and that insight alone can help you stop judging your progress unfairly.

Then we get to the deeper crux: luck versus fortune. I break down how luck tends to appear when opportunity meets preparation, while fortune is what compounds through repeated decisions, discipline, relationships, emotional control, and health habits. When you stop operating in survival mode and start moving with awareness, you begin to notice opportunities faster and build long-term momentum.

If this connects with you, take a moment to ask which phase you’re in and choose one intentional step you can take in the next 30 days. Subscribe, share this with someone in a transition, and leave a review with the phase you’re in right now.

Transcript

Life Transitions And Uncertainty

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome back to another episode of The Next Baseline. I am your podcast host, Danny DeJesus, and this podcast is about life resets and what it takes to reach your next baseline. So whether that next baseline comes because of disruption, whether that be through divorce, co-parenting stress, burnout, a professional pressure, maybe for those veterans out there, a military transition, a career change, health struggles, or a personal personal wake-up call, the question now becomes the same. What do you build now? And so for this episode, we're going to talk about life transitions. Really? And more specifically, we're going to talk about that life is full of transitions. And here's the thing: some are going to be expected, and others are going to arrive with some or maybe no warning at all. And sometimes you choose these transitions, and other times the transitions are going to choose you. And I think one of the biggest mistakes I think people make during a time of transition is assuming that sometimes something is wrong with them because life tends to feel unclear, especially in those moments of us of uncertainty that we find ourselves during a life transition. But what I want to clarify here is that despite uncertain having uncertainty, it does not always equate or mean failure. In fact, many times all uncertainty means is that you are in the middle of a change that you have not been able to fully understand or quite name yet. And major, you know, something that to think about is that major life transitions or life transitions in general, it rarely affects just one area of life. You know, when you look at it from the perspective of divorce, uh a divorce is not just a relationship uh that that that that broke. Um you know, a a divorce is a relationship that has changed. You know, a career shift is not just a job change. Burnout is not just the transition into just being tired. For those co-parents out there, a parenting challenge is not just about schedules. And these moments, these moments of transition, they're going to touch identity, they're going to touch routines, your confidence, they're going to target your finances, the relationships that you have, your health, your your professional standing, and even the direction that you're going in life. And I can see, just based off that, that is why people I think feel overwhelmed more often than not. Because they're not just dealing, people, everyday people are not just dealing with one problem. There may be a one problem that's taking up the majority of the cognitive real estate that we have. But for the most part, everyday people are dealing with multiple problems. And we are just trying to understand what life is now requiring from

Introducing The C2R2E Framework

SPEAKER_00 3:30

us. And that is exactly why I developed what I call this life transition framework that I call or like to call C2R2E. And what C2R2E stands for, it stands for collapse, confrontation, realignment, reclamation, and elevation. And I specifically created this framework because I feel that most people that experience disruption, disruption, or some sort of change or transition in their life, they do, they experience these things without fully understanding or knowing what phase of transformation that they're in. And when you don't have the language for the season that you're currently in, everything can start to feel very chaotic. But I think just my own personal opinion is that once you can name what you're feeling, once you can give it, you know, a name, there's power in that. And you can begin to respond with more deliberacy and actually more clarity. And so let's break it down. Let's break down every aspect of C2R2E.

Collapse And Confrontation Defined

SPEAKER_00 4:35

So let's start with collapse. Collapse is when the old structure is no longer working. It may be the end of a marriage, a career change. You know, I've highlighted burnout, health issue, it could be a professional crisis, it could be a personal wake-up call. And here's the thing: collapse does not always mean everything is destroyed. In fact, sometimes it just means that something you are simply relying on can no longer carry, carry you or move you forward in the life that you are living. And once we come to that realization, we can then move into confrontation. So, what's confrontation? Confrontation is where you stop avoiding what the transition is revealing to you. You you are able to confront the patterns, the habits, the fears, the emotional reactions, and the parts of your life that actually need to change. And this stage is going to be and can be very, very uncomfortable. Um, because it's going to require brutal honesty with yourself. But here's the thing: without confronting the truth, people often will repeat the same cycle, just under a different name. So, you know, it reminds me when we, you know, go from one relationship to the next, if we haven't discovered or figured out why relationships are not working, the we can change the person, but the the outcome and the result is going to keep repeating over and over and over. Which, by the way, is the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting something, just expecting a different outcome. So, with that, let's move to the the third phase here.

Realignment Through Values And Boundaries

SPEAKER_00 6:24

So, after confrontation, it's going to come, you're going to come into realignment. And what realignment is, this is where you begin adjusting your life around what is true now and in the present. Your routines may need to change, your boundaries may need to change, your relationships, priorities, habits, and the definition of success may also need may need some adjustment. And realignment is not about rushing into a new life. What is actually about, it is really about making sure that the life you're building for yourself is actually fits the person that you have decided to become moving forward. And there's more nuance to that. But but essentially is it's a realignment of values, is what it comes down to. And for change in our lives to happen, we have to get honest about our values and we have to be willing, willing to adjust them. Because our values or our core beliefs is going to be a huge driver of where our life ends up a year, two, three, maybe a decade down the road. All it's all going to come down to our core beliefs and values. So when you think about the quality of your life in the future, it's all going to come down to this moment of realignment. What you want your future to look like is going to be a direct result of how you aligned your values. All right. Enough of that one. So let's move on.

Reclamation And Taking The Driver’s Seat

SPEAKER_00 7:59

So reclamation. Reclamation is where you begin to take ownership of your life again. Okay. Confidence begins to return through through your deliberate actions. You stop waiting to feel ready and you actually start building capacity and capability for yourself. You begin to trust yourself again because you are making decisions, keeping commitments, and then also creating proof that you can move forward. In fact, this is where you reclaim personal agency of your life and you start, you deliberately start taking back the driver's seat of your life. And then from there is elevation. And elevation is the new baseline. And it's not about perfection, because there's no such thing as perfection. And it's not about pretending that the transition or the disruption or the collapse never happened. Because we have so many different phases, right? Up until this point. So there's no there's no mistaking something happened. However, what elevation is this is the point where you are no longer trying to get back the old version of who you were. You leave that old person behind. That old person that that was you is gone. And all you have is the person of today. And then in the phase of elevation, you are operating from a place of wisdom, you're operating more intentionally and more deliberate. And you are now a more resilient version of who you have been. And

Luck Versus Fortune That Compounds

SPEAKER_00 9:43

now this is where I want to transition the conversation. You know, we just walked through the whole phase of C2R2E. So this is where I think is a good time to get to the crux of what today's episode is centrally about. And that's luck and fortune. And, you know, I think when people use those words, luck and fortune, they think they it tends to mean the same thing, but they're not. They're they're two very different topics. And and here's how I define luck. Luck is oftentimes when opportune when opportunity meets preparation. So if you're prepared, opportunity prevent presents itself, you're gonna have success. It is the unexpected, it could be because of the unexpected conversation you were not intending to have. Um it could be the the connection, an idea timing, or an open a door that happens to add the blue show show up. But here's the thing people tend to experience more luck when they consistently place themselves in environments where opportunity can actually find them. And an example with this, I I just had um about an episode or two ago, I was able to interview uh a guy named TJ uh TJ Baird. Um, he's the founder of Warrior Dad Stories. And I actually met him when I was on a business trip out in Omaha, Nebraska. I was actually at a networking um dinner type type of event with folks that I was on this business trip with. And in that, I met TJ Baird in the process and had this great conversation about Reforge and what Reforge is and how how closely it resembles this idea that I have of reaching the next baseline. So it was like an instant connection. But here's the thing that moment was a lucky moment for me. And I say it's a lucky moment because of the fact that it was completely unexpected, but I was prepared to have that conversation to the point that when I recognized that there was a moment of connection, we were able to have a deeper conversation. And then next thing you know, a couple weeks later, we're we're on a podcast on a podcast together. So that's just an example I have of luck. Now, with that, in contrast, fortune is slightly different. You know, fortune, good fortune, or even bad fortune, that is built over time. There's nothing about fortune that should be cosmic or unexpected because fortune is going to come from repeated decisions that you're going to make. It's going to come from your reputation, your discipline, your relationships, your emotional control, your health, your habits, and you and the direction that you're taking in life. And through that fortune, luck may show up at any point in time, but fortune is going to compound through the patterns of our lives. So, you know, we see this often. You know, if we have high blood pressure in the future, well, what have we been eating our entire lives that has led up to that moment? If we struggle to find a job in the future, you know, what have we done up until that point to educate ourselves, to make ourselves a little bit better, to be more competitive in the job market, especially in this new environment that we have with artificial intelligence. So, so again, you know, good fortune is going to be developed through the habits that we build over over time. So, with that being said, um this is why, this is exactly why you know I created C2R2E or the C2R2E framework. Because when you when you move through a life transition with awareness, you also change the way that you make decisions. You you enter different spaces, you build different relationships, you notice opportunities faster. You stop operating just from a survival mode mentality, and over time, that's going to influence um the small shifts that you make over time, which is going to influence both your luck and your fortune. And here's the thing, when it comes down to life transitions, life transitions is not something that you survive. Um, but rather it can also life transitions can also be the point where your future trajectory is going to change from the decisions that you make today. And the hard part is that most people want clarity before they even move forward and they take action and deliberate move take deliberate steps moving forward. But actually, many times clarity is actually going to come through being able to move forward. You know, once you name the the phase that you're in in transition, you're able to take an honest next step. You can adjust, you can learn, you can build from what the transition has revealed to you. See here, here's the thing C2R2E, it's more than just a framework, it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity to look at where your life is right now and begin to adjust and make decisions for your life that's going to determine where you're going to be, whether it's a week from now, two weeks, six months, a year, two years. And I'm not saying this is going to be an easy process, but when you start the journey, you're going to be in the driver's seat, you're going to be back in control to where you can influence the outcome, the luck and fortune in your life just by following the steps C2, R2E. Now, that being said, I can't promise anything. But I can pro what I can promise is you follow the steps of C2, R2E, your life will change in some way if you actually do the work. Now, what that change is going to amount to, I don't have I'm not a fortune teller. I can't tell you what that's going to be, but what I can tell you, take this seriously. Your life is going to change. And it's going to change in such a way that that has yet to be seen. But whatever that change is going to be, it's going to be more positive. Again, can't promise you anything, but we don't know unless we try.

Reflection Questions And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 16:27

So with that, so I always like to leave every episode with a moment of reflection. And so for this one, it's going to be pretty simple. I want you to ask yourself what phase of collapse, confrontation, realignment, reclamation, elevation are you in right now? What phase of life transition are you in? Are you in a collapse where something just stopped working for you? Are you in fact in a moment of confrontation where you need to face the thing that you have been avoiding for a while, whether that be a conversation, whether that be setting a boundary, maybe you know, maybe finding finding that new job or position, maybe having that difficult conversation that you've been putting off. So some things to think about there. Now what about if you're in a phase of realignment? Where what in your life needs needs to be improved in terms of where your priorities uh where your priorities lie? How do you need to reframe your pri what you value in your life? Now, next question ask or consider are you in reclamation? Or where in your life are you able to reclaim certain things? Where do you need to take ownership and where do you need to reclaim personal agency again in your life? Because we're not being deliberate with those decisions. Things in life is going to happen where whether we want them to happen or not. So, where in your life do you need to take ownership again? Or are you in a phase of elevation? And what are you building now in this new baseline that you have? Or how are you protecting the new baseline that you do have? And here's the thing something to think about. You could be in multiple phases of transformation all at the same time. You know, earlier talked about whether there's divorce, professional change, burnout, co-parenting for those single parents. If you're a veteran, military transition. And here's the thing, you can be elevating in one area, but you can be collapsing in another. So that's something to think about. C2R2E is not just about, it's not an all, you know, all or nothing. C2R2E is just giving you the language of where you are in in your life. And it could be, and you have to look at your the the different aspects of your life individually and just ask yourself these questions. Where are you collapsing? Where are you confronting? Where are you realigning? Where you reclaiming, and then where are you elevating? And here's the thing, once you can name the phases that you're in, there's one more question I want to ask you. And that would be you know, if if there was no if there was nothing stopping you, what would be one intentional step forward that you can take a look and you can explore within the next 30 days and take action on? All right. Take some time to think about it. I'm not asking you to come up with 10 things, start out small, because if you start out small, you know, that's going to be more sustainable than outlining 10 things. So start start small, start with one one thing, and then and then go forward from there. So with that, you know, this is you know, the intent is to make transformation or life transition more more practical, not dramatic, not perfect, just

Where To Learn More

SPEAKER_00 20:26

practical. So with that, if this episode connected with you, you can learn more about the work here at Elevatis Coaching or I'm sorry, elevatiscoach.com. And the description is going to be you know in the links below. That's where you get to check more of my work at um my more of my work on transformational resilience and the T2R2E framework. So again, go to elevatiscoach.com to learn to learn more. And all of that again is going to be provided in the links below, along with my social media handles. So with that, I'm going to wish you peace, love, joy, and harmony. And I can't wait to connect with you again on another episode of the next baseline. This is Dandy Hastus, and until next time.