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With so much uncertainty pervading the world these days, almost anyone can make a strong case for being a victim, for being resigned, for sitting on the sidelines. That's what we do in difficult times -- we shut ourselves down and cling to what's known.

But I'd like to suggest a sizzling, soaring, blood- pumping, pulse-racing, high-flying alternative: What if you were to embrace the uncertainty? What if you were to see this state of groundlessness as a good thing? What if, for the first time, you allowed yourself to not know the future, to assume the role of adventurer in your own life? Isn't the whole point of a great adventure that you don't know the outcome, and that anything can happen? Isn't that why adventures are so intrinsically thrilling?

There is, I believe, a glorious flip-side to being in-between, and I am here to help you celebrate it. Far from being periods to endure, between-trapeze moments can actually be the most invigorating, most fulfilling times of your life. When you allow yourself to not know the future, that's when you find your edge. If you can allow yourself to lean into this open space, you'll find that it's a time of stunning discovery and tremendous growth.

"It's the most wonderful, eye-opening, outside-the-box experience," says a client who is phasing out her career as a university administrator to take more art classes and pursue a career as an art therapist. "In academia, everything is subdued because we're all trying to be respectable. Now I walk out of class each night not knowing what I'll be doing next week. It really gets the juices flowing -- and, paradoxically, helps me produce better results."

Unfortunately, the vast majority of us let opportunities like this pass us by. We don't embrace the uncertainty that surrounds us, and instead play it safe. We try to seem impressive to others by appearing confident about our future -- by knowing who we are and what we're doing. When change comes, we want to fix it right away. We want to nail down the next job, so we go on a flurry of interviews and beam our resumes across the Internet. Or we want to find the next guy, get married again, and pretend that nothing ever happened.

We rush along in a hurry, even a panic. The result is that we move too quickly into our next life and discover that it's pretty much the same as the one we left behind. Not only do we miss the joy of being blissfully in between, we frequently miss the Big One: that wonderfully fulfilling job that uses all of our talents, that drop-dead gorgeous lover we've waited a lifetime for, that mind-blowing adventure that life was trying to hand us while we were busy trying to pin down the next tidy step. We miss the fact that the real thrill in life is not in the landing -- it's in the flying. The really exciting parts of life appear when you've left the past behind but you don't yet know what the future looks like. It's in the struggle, in the becoming, during those late nights in the office when we try to pull something brilliant out of ourselves. That moment when someone asks us to work what could only be called a miracle, and somehow, we find the stuff to do it. That's the kick. Sure, the moment you get handed the award on stage is terrific, but that's not where you'll find the juice in life.

This book is all about finding that juice. And about allowing yourself to dive headfirst into your next great life without fear, without dread, without shame or embarrassment, but with a sheer joy and exuberance of living. It's about giving yourself permission to let go. To embrace uncertainty, to relish the struggle, to let go of the need to know. It's about allowing yourself to float in that heart-opening, mind-expanding space and improvise. It's about discovering the thrill and the joy of reinventing yourself, reinventing your life. This is not a dead time, or even a down time. This is the moment you've been waiting for your entire life.