Crossing the Chasm

One powerful tool used in coaching is the metaphor, which offers a visual description to point to in order to more fully understand an experience. 

Recently, there was a theme that recurred in my coaching around the concept of personal, internal change feeling like crossing a chasm.

If you're trying to change something about yourself, this metaphor might be useful. Let’s unpack it so you can recognize and leverage this kind of change when you experience it:

1. Crossing a chasm can feel reckless.

The metaphor really illustrates how behaving differently in moments where we try to embrace a change can actually feel reckless, as if we will be damaging something. After all, the behaviors we've lived with up until now have helped us feel safe. Change requires true courage -- feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

2. There's a willingness to let go.

If you imagine a stuntman riding their motorcycle across a canyon, for example, the driver has to be willing to let go of the known territory over here in order to get over there. Their feet must leave the ground. And that will undoubtedly result in a feeling of being ungrounded. However, that is temporary and they will land again on the other side.

3. You must have faith in the unknown.

Being reckless and letting go is worth a try because of our faith that on the other side is better ground. Maybe even higher ground. There must be a trust that you're surrendering to your vision of something new, and believing that it is there, even though you've never truly been there. 

In one coaching session, this chasm represented having more comfort with confrontational conversations. In another, it was about carving space for creativity that embraced the inner journey.

These examples illuminate the fact that change goals are often relatable, small, and connect to everyday choices. However, when you are the one embarking on that sort of personal change, it feels as risky an endeavor as riding one's motorcycle across a chasm.