Navigating the Liminal Space: Finding Growth Between What Was and What’s Next

Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino
3 days ago
5 min read

As we were writing The Peace Guidebook, Dr. Katie Eastman, my colleague and mentor taught me about liminal space and how it relates to change. I decided to write about it in my journal and then post it here on Best Ever You. The fog here in the summer months in Maine reminds me of how fog can turn into sunshine with time and the right circumstances.

There’s a quiet moment at dawn when the fog still hangs over the ocean. The water is there, but I can’t quite see it. The horizon exists, but it’s hidden. I stand in that moment knowing that soon the fog will lift and light will spill across the water — but not yet.

That space, that pause, that breath between what was and what’s next — that’s what is called liminal space.

It’s the hallway between two doors or the layover between two flights. It’s the moment when the old chapter has closed but the new one hasn’t fully begun.

And it’s one of the most uncomfortable and transformational places we can find ourselves in.

What Liminal Space Really Is

Many definitions of liminal space sound academic or poetic — and while those have their place, I see it as something more human, more lived-in.

Liminal space is that in-between season when you’ve outgrown one version of yourself, but you haven’t yet stepped fully into the next.

It shows up in many forms:

After a job ends but before the new one starts.
When the kids move out and the house feels suddenly, achingly quiet.
After a relationship ends but before your heart feels open again.
In the pause after a health scare, when life looks different but you’re still finding your footing.

In my own life, I’ve met liminal space after the loss of loved ones, after big career shifts, and in the quiet moments between writing and releasing a book. Each time, it’s been both unsettling and deeply clarifying.

I like you, crave clarity, control, and momentum. We like to know — to have plans, checklists, and goals that keep us moving forward.

Liminal space disrupts all of that. It’s ambiguous. It asks you to slow down when everything in you might want to rush ahead. It asks you to sit with unanswered questions, and sometimes with your own reflection, in a way that feels vulnerable.

The temptation is to try to “fix” the in-between as fast as possible — to jump into the next thing just so you’re not sitting in uncertainty. But I’ve learned that rushing through this season often means missing the very wisdom it’s offering.

To me, liminal space is where the deepest growth happens.

It’s the chrysalis stage for the butterfly, the germination time for the seed. It’s where your old ways of thinking loosen their grip and your next chapter starts taking shape — quietly, beneath the surface.

But growth in liminal space isn’t automatic. It needs intention. It needs tools. And that’s where the Guidebook Series — The Change Guidebook, The Success Guidebook, and The Peace Guidebook — comes in.

The Guidebook Series: Your Compass, Map, and Resting Place

Over the years, I’ve seen how different life stages require different kinds of support. That’s why I wrote these three books — not as stand-alone works (though they certainly can be), but as a journey.

1. The Change Guidebook – Aligning Your Heart, Truths, and Energy

When you first enter liminal space, it often comes with loss or disruption — even if it’s change you’ve chosen. The Change Guidebook walks you through my Ten Points of Change:

Assess
Choose
Discover
Grow
Support
Implement
Accept
Engage
Master
Impact

These steps give you a way to orient yourself when the old map no longer applies. Instead of clinging to what was, you learn to align your heart, truths, and energy so you can meet what’s next with confidence.

2. The Success Guidebook – Visualizing, Actualizing, and Amplifying You

Once you’ve begun to stabilize in your new season, the question becomes: Where do I want to go? This is where the Ten Factors of Success guide you: Imagine, Believe, Focus, Plan, Ask, Network, Collaborate, Sustain, Adjust, and Celebrate.

In liminal space, it’s easy to feel stalled — like nothing is happening. But The Success Guidebook helps you turn even the smallest steps into momentum. It’s about using this time not just to wait, but to intentionally design your next chapter.

3. The Peace Guidebook – Cultivating Hope, Healing, and Harmony for All Humanity

Ultimately, every transition asks for one thing: peace. Not the absence of problems, but a deep, steady harmony within yourself and your relationships.

In The Peace Guidebook, Dr. Katie Eastman and I share the Ten Principles of Peace — from Presence and Patience to Partnership and Peace itself — as a way to navigate even the most uncertain in-between times.

Liminal space is not just a personal journey. It’s also a chance to ripple peace outward — to be a calmer, kinder presence in a world that’s often rushing.

How to Move Through Liminal Space with Grace

I’ve learned that the in-between can either be a place of fear or a place of profound possibility. Here are some practices that have made all the difference for me — many of which are expanded in the Guidebook Series:

Name It – Acknowledge you’re in liminal space. This simple awareness shifts the feeling from “something’s wrong” to “I’m in a season of becoming.”
Slow Your Pace – Not every moment needs immediate action. Let stillness be part of the process.
Use the Gratitude Flip – Instead of “I have to wait,” shift to “I get to pause and prepare.”
Choose Your Inner Circle Wisely – Surround yourself with people who honor your transition rather than rush you out of it.
Create a Vision Statement – Imagine yourself beyond this space. Let that vision pull you forward.

My Own Season of In-Between

One of my most vivid experiences with liminal space came when our youngest son left for college. As parents of four sons, he was the last to leave. The house, once full of noise and activity, became suddenly quiet. My dad has also died the year prior and I was writing a new book, called The Change Guidebook that you see in this post. So, lots of change and lots of liminal space!!

At the same time, I was at a professional crossroads, unsure of which projects to pursue next. I felt unmoored — grateful for all I had, but restless and uncertain.

That’s when I returned to my own process from The Change Guidebook. I assessed my heart, chose what mattered most, and gave myself permission to grow into the next season rather than forcing it.

Looking back now, that quiet stretch was essential. It gave me the space to write The Success Guidebook and to begin shaping The Peace Guidebook. Without that pause, those books might never have been born.

Points to Ponder

If you’re in liminal space right now, here are a few questions to sit with:

What chapter of your life is closing, and what feelings come with that ending?
What would it look like to see this “in-between” as a gift rather than a gap?
Which of the Ten Points of Change, Ten Factors of Success, or Ten Principles of Peace could serve you right now?

You don’t have to rush through the in-between. You can use it. You can let it shape you into someone who steps into the next chapter not just ready, but aligned.

If you’re navigating your own liminal space, I invite you to explore The Guidebook Series: