What Would You Need to Release to Move Toward What's Next?

 

September 8, 2026 Regenerate Your World  Build the future you want to live in. I know these times aren't the easiest for all of us, but I am an optimist - I see the glass as refillable instead of half-full or half-empty. To brighten up your days, I publish the Regenerate Your World newsletter coming to your inbox on a bi-weekly basis. Let's Get Empowered!

What Would You Need to Release to Move Toward What's Next? Photo from a bike ride over the summer. We biked along the shores of Lake Superior. Dear Empowered Reader, Our summer travel officially ended this week. Chuck and I got back, and the last stretch of any trip always has the same ritual: unpacking the car and sorting everything into two piles. What comes back into regular rotation. What goes into storage until next summer. It sounds simple. It never is. There's a camp chair with a broken zipper pocket I kept meaning to fix over the summer. A cooler we don't strictly need, we've got a better one at home, that I still couldn't quite talk myself into replacing, because it's the one that's always come along on our summer trips. That's the part that gets me every year, trip after trip. It's not that the chair is particularly special or that the cooler is better than others. It's that we've already grown attached to them. And somehow that alone makes them harder to let go of than their actual worth would justify. There's a famous set of studies behind that feeling, and it has nothing to do with camp chairs. Economists Daniel Kahneman, Jack Knetsch, and Richard Thaler ran an experiment in the late 1980s where they handed half a room a coffee mug and asked what they'd sell it for. The other half, empty-handed, were asked what they'd pay for the same mug. Classical economics says those two numbers should land close together; a mug is a mug. They didn't. The people holding the mug wanted roughly twice as much to give it up as the people without one were willing to pay to get it. They called it the endowment effect: the moment something becomes ours a possession, a role, a way of doing things, a version of ourselves- we attach a value to it that has almost nothing to do with what it's actually worth to us going forward. It sits on top of an older finding from Kahneman's work with Amos Tversky: losses simply weigh more than equivalent gains. Giving something up feels like more than the thing is worth, purely because giving it up is what's on the table. I think about this constantly in my work with leaders moving through change. A title, a way a team has always operated, a program someone built from scratch five years ago- none of it gets evaluated on its current usefulness. It gets defended because it's theirs. Not because it's still serving them. What the endowment effect doesn't fully explain, though: why does releasing something we chose to release still feel like a loss? Family therapist Pauline Boss spent her career studying what she called ambiguous loss (thanks to a friend for introducing me to her): grief with no clear ending, the kind that shows up when someone is physically present but psychologically gone, or physically gone with no resolution. She developed the concept working with families of the missing and families living with dementia. But the framework has become one of the most useful lenses for something much more common: the grief embedded in ordinary transitions we actually wanted. When you leave a role, a version of yourself doesn't die cleanly. It doesn't get a funeral. It just becomes unreachable, still vivid in memory, no longer available to you. That's ambiguous loss. There's no ritual for grieving a job you were glad to leave, an identity you outgrew on purpose, a relationship that changed shape instead of ending outright. So the grief goes unnamed, and unnamed grief tends to show up sideways, as second-guessing, as nostalgia you can't explain, as a strange heaviness on a day that should feel like relief. Our trusty red cooler has traveled many miles..... Chosen change is still change. And change, even the kind you're proud of, involves mourning something real. This is exactly the terrain of "letting go", the second stage in the Mountain 10 process. It's also the stage almost every team I work with tries to skip. Leaders want to move straight from awareness to vision, straight from "we need to change" to "here's the new structure," without ever naming what's actually being given up. But the endowment effect doesn't disappear because you didn't name it. It just makes the new structure harder to fully occupy, because part of the team is still quietly holding the old one. Naming what's being released, out loud, specifically, is often what makes room for the next thing to actually take hold. Not skipping past the loss. Moving through it on purpose. Just like a sunset bridges day into night, so do the September days bridge summer into fall. Affirmation "I can grieve what I'm releasing and still be certain I'm releasing it for good reason. Both things are true at once." A Seasonal Practice Take inventory before you release. Before letting go of a role, belief, or way of operating, name specifically what it gave you, not just what's wrong with it. You can't release something honestly until you've named its real value, endowment effect and all. Separate the object from the ownership. Ask: is this still useful to me, or am I only holding onto it because it's already mine? The camp chair test works on roles and routines too. Let the grief be small and real. You don't need a full ritual for every loss. A sentence is enough: "I'm letting go of X, and part of me will miss it." Naming it costs you less than carrying it unnamed. Notice what's asking to loosen. Not everything needs to go. Some things just need a looser grip, a belief you can hold more lightly, a role you can occupy differently instead of abandoning. Reflection Questions What are you holding onto right now mostly because it's already yours, not because it's still serving you? Where have you skipped the grief in a change you know was right? If you let yourself mourn it for one sentence, what would that sentence say? Until next time, release what's ready, grieve what's real, and let fall find you a little lighter than summer did. Julie Sources: Kahneman, D., Knetsch, J.L., & Thaler, R.H., "Experimental Tests of the Endowment Effect and the Coase Theorem," Journal of Political Economy, 1990; Kahneman, D. & Tversky, A., "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk," Econometrica, 1979; Boss, P., Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief (1999) and Loss, Trauma, and Resilience (2006). Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Click here to get your own subscription. The Quiet Kind of Brave We do not roar, we do not shout When grief becomes our guest. We simply wake and take a breath With sorrow in our chest. The quiet kind of brave it is— To smile with trembling lips, To hold the coffee, feed the cat, With hands that shake and slip. And yet we do it, day by day,..... Read the rest at, https://trustedmemorialplanners.com/post/inspirational-poems-about-grief

In the Media Where can you find EMPOWER Possible? In addition to posting on my own social media, I collaborate with other entrepreneurs.  Thank you, Voyager Minnesota, for your article, https://voyageminnesota.com/interview/story-lesson-highlights-with-julie-zaruba-fountaine-of-metro-area-highlight/ Upcoming Events Leading Change When Nobody is Looking When: September 17, 2026  Where: St. Paul, MN What: Panelists will share real stories about leading through uncertainty, influencing without formal authority, working with limited resources, and helping people move forward when conditions are far from perfect. Attendees will leave with practical ideas for building momentum before buy-in exists, creating progress amid constraints, and sustaining change when the path forward is still taking shape. Discover more by clicking here. Luminary Conference Presentation When: September 25, 2026 Where: Rochester, MN  What: I am thrilled to be taking the stage at the upcoming Luminary Conference! I will be sharing actionable frameworks on sustainable leadership, thriving through large-scale organizational transitions, and shifting workplace cultures from a state of survival and overwhelm into a space of abundance and clarity. To learn more, click here. Wisdom of Winter Retreat When: February 25 to 28 2027 Where: True North Resort, Nisswa, MN What: In partnership with Art of Presence and Taylor and Co., Empower Possible is hosting a winter retreat. Surrounded by peaceful lake views, snow-covered forests, and the quiet beauty of winter, this retreat is designed to help you slow down, reconnect, and restore. Come as you are. Leave feeling rested, grounded, and renewed. Learn more: https://taylorandcoapothecary.com/2027-nisswa-retreat/  Mountain 10 Workshops What is Mountain 10?  During this three-hour workshop, we will focus on accessing your inner wisdom to bring about the changes you deeply desire in your life. We will use the Mountain 10 process, a proven, new technology for deep reflection on human change. It is based on the conviction that every person has the most important answers about direction, purpose, and calling within them. For a Mountain 10 experience, join the Wisdom of Winter Retreat. Can't make it to the Wisdom of Winter Retreat? Join the waitlist. Click HERE Please reach out if you have any questions: info@empowerpossible.com

Connect with me on social media! Copyright © EMPOWER Possible  Northfield, United States EMPOWER Possible is dedicated to empowering individuals, organizations, and communities to organize and act together to regenerate our world through Self, Social, and Systems transformation.  info@empowerpossible.com \ Website \ Mission You are receiving this email because you expressed an interest in my work—thank you! You can change your email preferences or unsubscribe at any time.  Disclaimer: This newsletter contains content that has been modified and inspired by ChatGPT, an AI language model developed by OpenAI. While we use ChatGPT to enhance our content, it should not be considered professional advice. For specific concerns or decisions, please consult with a qualified professional or trusted source. The newsletter authors are not responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided by or inspired by ChatGPT.

Your World, What Season Are You Actually In? (It's Not the One on the Calendar)

 

August 24, 2026 Regenerate Your World  Build the future you want to live in. I know these times aren't the easiest for all of us, but I am an optimist - I see the glass as refillable instead of half-full or half-empty. To brighten up your days, I publish the Regenerate Your World newsletter coming to your inbox on a bi-weekly basis. Let's Get Empowered! What season are you in? Sometimes the seasons are unclear, just like the mist around Gooseberry Falls. Dear Empowered Reader, I was in my early thirties when I walked away from a career I'd spent years building at the College of St. Scholastica. I was burned out and needed a change. I knew where I wanted to go, which was toward the work that would eventually become Empower Possible. What I remember most clearly isn't the fear of leaving. It's the quiet, growing certainty that the role I was in no longer matched the person doing it. The values that had once fit the work had shifted, and I was still working anyway, and day by day I felt less like myself, waiting for it to change back to the work I knew. However, it never did. It couldn't, because I was the one who had changed. I keep thinking about that moment. Because most of us aren't actually confused about whether change is coming. We're confused about what season we're already standing in. Enjoying Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Soaking in summer. I'm writing this at the end of August, which always feels like the edge of something bigger. Right now my husband, Chuck, and I are up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, near Marquette, Lake Superior on one side, the woods on the other.  Late summer does something specific up there. It's still warm, but it's already leaning; there is a chill in the air. The light hits the water differently than it did in June. Nothing has technically ended. And yet you can feel the hinge. That's the trouble with seasons, the actual ones and the inner ones. They rarely announce themselves. They just start leaning, and you either notice the tilt or you get caught flat-footed by the frost. Psychologist Daniel Levinson spent years studying exactly this kind of tilt in adult life. His research, built from in-depth interviews and later expanded to include women as well as men, found that adulthood isn't the flat, static stretch we assume it is once childhood ends. It moves through distinct seasons, each with its own structure, and each punctuated by transition periods where a person questions the life they've built and starts reorganizing it. Levinson called the relatively stable periods times for building a life around key choices, and the transitional periods the space where those choices get reexamined. Neither one lines up neatly with a birthday. Here's what the research adds that Levinson couldn't have measured in the 1970s: your felt age and your actual age are often two different numbers entirely, and the gap matters. Across a wide body of research, most adults report feeling meaningfully younger or older than their chronological age, and that gap shows up in measurable ways, in stress levels, in life satisfaction, in how much control people feel they have over their health and their choices. Feeling out of step with your own age isn't a character flaw. It's data. I think that's the piece we skip.  We ask "am I too old for this" or "am I too young for that," as if the calendar were the authority. But the more honest question is: what terrain am I actually standing on right now? Am I in a stable season, building something and wanting to protect it? Or am I in a transition, quietly outgrowing a structure I haven't admitted I've outgrown yet? Those are different seasons. They call for different things. A stable season wants commitment and depth. A transition wants space and honesty. Treating a transition like it should behave like a stable season, gritting your teeth, waiting for the restlessness to pass, is like trying to force August to stay June. It won't, and pretending it will just delays the harvest. This is the exact terrain the Mountain 10 experience is built for: the four stages of change: awareness, letting go, vision, and realization. Most people I work with, whether it's a leadership team navigating a merger or someone quietly renegotiating their own career the way I once did, get stuck in the same place: they're already in a transition season, but they're still trying to operate by the rules of the stable one they just left. Naming the season you're actually in is often the whole unlock. Not fixing it. Just naming it accurately. That's also exactly why the Wisdom of Winter Retreat exists, February 25–28, 2027, at True North Resort in Nisswa, Minnesota, with Rachel Gilbertson of Art of Presence and Taylor Tix and Cris Bickman Otte of Taylor & Co. You can't always do this kind of season-naming inside a Tuesday. It takes three lakeside nights, some distance from your usual roles, and people around you who are asking the same quiet question instead of performing certainty. Spots are limited; if you've been circling the idea, this is your nudge to stop circling and check it out. Enjoying the last of the summer blooms. Wondering What Season You Are In? Change doesn’t move in a straight line; it moves in seasons. Some seasons ask you to plant. Others ask you to rest, harvest, or let go. Take this two-minute quiz to find out which season you’re in right now, and what it’s asking of you. How it works: 8 quick questions, then a short reflection on your season, plus one practice to try this week. Every season includes a free subscription to Regenerate Your World, with reflections tailored to where you are.  Click Here To Take the Quiz

The Roadless Neutral Zone

 

July 13, 2026 Regenerate Your World  Build the future you want to live in. I know these times aren't the easiest for all of us, but I am an optimist - I see the glass as refillable instead of half-full or half-empty. To brighten up your days, I publish the Regenerate Your World newsletter coming to your inbox on a bi-weekly basis. Let's Get Empowered!

The Roadless Neutral Zone The last stretch of pavement before Chelan, the highway that got us close, but not all the way. Leaving the highway behind. Stepping onto the water. Everything that matters requires us to trust the space between. Dear Empowered Reader, I just got back from a trip to Washington State. Somewhere between the flights, the rental car, and timing our transit connections just right, it hit me: this whole trip was a lesson in management, management in expectations, and management of change. The heart of the trip was the North Cascades Loop, miles of winding mountain road, alpine passes, and small towns tucked between peaks. But the part that stuck with me most wasn't anything you could drive to. It was Stehekin. Stehekin sits deep in the North Cascades, and here's the thing about it: you cannot drive there. No highway connects it to anything, loop or otherwise. You leave your car in Chelan, walk down to the dock, and get on a ferry. For an hour and a half, you float uplake with nothing to do but slow down. There's a name for this in change work: the Neutral Zone. William Bridges coined it. It's that messy middle where the old way of doing things has ended, but the new way hasn't shown up yet. No pavement. No GPS.  You're just out there. Most of us panic at the dock. We want to rush across the water, skip the discomfort, and build ourselves a makeshift highway just to feel steady again. We treat the in-between as something to escape as fast as possible. But according to Bridges, the neutral zone isn't empty space; it's actually where the real work happens. It's uncomfortable, but it's doing something. Here's what it gives us, if we let it: It sets the pace. You can't sprint through a real transformation. Bridges' research is clear on this: when we force an outcome before people have processed the change internally, we get friction and resistance instead of buy-in. It opens room for new ideas. Without a pre-paved road, teams have to find new ways to work together. That's exactly why the neutral zone tends to be so creative: the old rules aren't boxing you in anymore. It lets you actually think. It's the pause where you get to ask what you actually want to build next, instead of just carrying old momentum forward on autopilot. Here's why we resist this so much: when there's no pre-set structure, our brains have to evaluate and choose constantly, and that's exhausting. Social psychologist Roy Baumeister's research on ego depletion backs this up: our capacity for self-control and intentional choice is a limited resource. So when we try to power through a roadless season by micromanaging every decision, we burn out fast and default right back to old habits. If you're leading a team through a shift right now, or you're in a roadless season of your own life, know this: the lack of a highway doesn't mean you're lost. It means you've made it to the neutral zone. Get on the ferry. Trust the ride. Stepping onto the ferry. No more roads from here: just water, time, and a cup of coffee! AFFIRMATION "I am allowed to step off the highway of constant momentum. Ambiguity is not a sign of failure; it is the space where renewal takes root. I trust the roadless path, I honor the transition, and I give myself permission to sit in the neutral zone until the new beginning clarifies itself." The wilderness of Stehekin. PRACTICES FOR THIS SEASON Name your highway. Look at your current situation, personal or professional. What's the old road you're still gripping, even though the terrain has changed? Let something sit. Pick one decision that feels stuck in ambiguity. Instead of forcing an answer just to relieve the tension, table it for a week on purpose. Let it be unresolved for a little longer than feels comfortable. Practice floating. Next time you feel the urge to rush a transition this week, stop and take three slow breaths. Remind yourself: the ferry is moving at the right speed. You don't have to drive the boat. Learning to float instead of rush. Some lessons only show up when you slow down enough to notice them. REFLECTION QUESTIONS For your journal, your walk, your quiet morning Do you see the roadless phases of your life as a threat, or as an opportunity? What would shift if you treated this space as necessary instead of a problem to fix? What old habits are you still quietly trying to carry onto the ferry with you? What would it take to actually leave them at the dock? Who's making this transition alongside you? Are you letting people in, or trying to navigate it alone? More in two weeks. Take care, dear reader,  Julie Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Click here to get your own subscription. Ode to the Cascade Author Unknown In the realm where whispers flow,  Nature's canvas,  bold and aglow,  Words like streams in endless chase,  Dance and weave in vibrant grace.  Each line a ripple, soft and clear,  Crafting landscapes, far and near,  Mountains rise and valleys sigh,  Ink becomes the earth, the sky.  A cascade born from heart's pure stream,  We paint our worlds, we dare to dream,  Through syllables, the wild takes flight,  A symphony of day and night.  Let each stanza bloom like flowers wide,  In fragrant breezes, let them glide,  For in these verses, life unfolds,  Nature's beauty, in ink, retold.

In the Media Where can you find EMPOWER Possible? In addition to posting on my own social media, I collaborate with other entrepreneurs.  Thank you to The CEO Mindset for hosting me on your podcast.  By pressing play on this episode, you'll discover: How to change your life with systems, goals, and design a personal blueprint.    Are you ready to change your life? I am not sure if I know anyone who isn’t in some form or fashion.   In this episode of the podcast, we talk about the relationship between systems, goals, and my personal blueprint.Click here to listen. Interested in catching up on our previous podcast episodes? I invite you to explore our library of past recordings, where we delve into a diverse range of topics related to happiness and well-being. https://empowerpossible.com/podcasts/&nbsp Upcoming Events Luminary Conference Presentation When: September 2026 What: I am thrilled to be taking the stage at the upcoming Luminary Conference! I will be sharing actionable frameworks on sustainable leadership, thriving through large-scale organizational transitions, and shifting workplace cultures from a state of survival and overwhelm into a space of abundance and clarity. https://almaleaders.org/rochester-conference-registration?fbclid=IwY2xjawSeUQJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFTNXZNTFI2ckgyR1ZuZWV4c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHhP3tFpQlxVKRAMvwECnXmvkwEH8vvokmbnxFS-cVX_u5AgZWavbKOfPujUZ_aem_YWdncwA8i8y47DlRNlwbE18Ymi4i&brid=YWdncwEvYYKorF5TIQS0XiXsyrPq  Empower Possible Winter Retreat When: February 25 to 28 2027 Where: True North Resort, Nisswa, MN What: In partnership with Art of Presence and Taylor and Co., Empower Possible is hosting a winter retreat. Surrounded by peaceful lake views, snow-covered forests, and the quiet beauty of winter, this retreat is designed to help you slow down, reconnect, and restore. Come as you are. Leave feeling rested, grounded, and renewed. Learn more: https://taylorandcoapothecary.com/2027-nisswa-retreat/  Mountain 10 Workshops What is Mountain 10? During this three-hour workshop, we will focus on accessing your inner wisdom to bring about the changes you deeply desire in your life. We will use the Mountain 10 process, a proven, new technology for deep reflection on human change. It is based on the conviction that every person has the most important answers about direction, purpose, and calling within them. Click HERE to sign up to be on the waitlist for the next workshop. I will reach out once a workshop is scheduled that meets your availability. Please reach out if you have any questions: info@empowerpossible.com

Connect with me on social media! Copyright © EMPOWER Possible  Northfield, United States EMPOWER Possible is dedicated to empowering individuals, organizations, and communities to organize and act together to regenerate our world through Self, Social, and Systems transformation.  info@empowerpossible.com \ Website \ Mission You are receiving this email because you expressed an interest in my work—thank you! You can change your email preferences or unsubscribe at any time.  Disclaimer: This newsletter contains content that has been modified and inspired by ChatGPT, an AI language model developed by OpenAI. While we use ChatGPT to enhance our content, it should not be considered professional advice. For specific concerns or decisions, please consult with a qualified professional or trusted source. The newsletter authors are not responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided by or inspired by ChatGPT.