{"id":129854,"date":"2024-09-18T11:08:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T15:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=129854"},"modified":"2024-09-18T15:13:59","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T19:13:59","slug":"linear-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/linear-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The “Linear Life” Is a Myth: Here’s Why It’s Dangerous"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the “linear life”? How can believing in a linear life set you up for disappointment? How can you embrace a nonlinear life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we imagine our lives, we often imagine the ideal: college, career, family, and retirement. The truth is that most people’s lives aren’t that straightforward and include many life-altering disrupters and transitions along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn why you should embrace a nonlinear life, according to Bruce Feiler in Life Is in the Transitions.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Life Is Not Linear<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to Feiler, we often think of life in stages\u2014such as childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age\u2014with predictable transitions at predetermined points along that path. For example, you might expect to graduate from college in your early 20s, establish a career in your 30s, and retire in your 60s. Feiler calls this \u201cthe linear life,\u201d and he argues it\u2019s a myth: In reality, life doesn\u2019t follow a linear path, and we can face transitions at any <\/em>point. This myth is dangerous because it colors our expectations; we expect to move smoothly from one phase of life to another, so when we inevitably face curveballs (or don\u2019t hit certain milestones at the same time as our peers), we fear that something has gone wrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Experts explain that our expectations about life are determined by cultural life scripts<\/a>, which are shared knowledge about life events: what someone belonging to a particular culture can expect and when events are supposed to happen. These cultural life scripts shape how we perceive and judge our progress in life, and they vary across societies\u2014for example, Western people anticipate a midlife crisis, as Feiler notes, while people belonging to some other cultures don\u2019t.<\/a> Many people tend to feel distressed<\/a> when their life trajectory doesn\u2019t match their cultural life script, possibly because they feel they aren\u2019t successful<\/a> in ways their culture recognizes.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feiler argues that instead of clinging to the myth of the linear life, we need to embrace the idea that life is non<\/em>linear.<\/strong> There is no predetermined path, so we should expect life-altering changes at any time. (Shortform note: Not all<\/em> cultures view life as linear. For example, some Native American peoples see life as a cyclical journey of endless change<\/a> rather than a straight line of progress from birth to death.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Feiler, there are two types of life-altering changes that most people experience\u2014adjustments<\/em> and transformations<\/em>. Let\u2019s explore each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adjustments<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Feiler says the first type of change is adjustments <\/em>(he calls these \u201cdisruptors\u201d). Adjustments are events that interrupt our status quo, making life feel different after they take place. These events can be positive or negative, and they might seem large or small from the outside\u2014either way, they fundamentally change our daily lives. According to Feiler, the average person can expect to experience 30 to 40 adjustments in their lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his research, Feiler found 52 kinds of adjustments that he says represent the full range of life changes, which he divides into five categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n