INTRODUCTION
 

I looked at the cards in front of me. On the left lay the card that revealed what would happen if I continued the job I was doing. On the right, the card that showed what awaited me if I chose to leave. The left card promised depression and burnout. The right predicted a complete collapse of my existing foundations – the disappearance of the very structures that no longer served me – so that I could rebuild on solid ground. I chose the right.

 

When you recognize that the place you are in no longer nourishes you and that real change is needed, you have two options. You can resist until the strain weakens you physically and mentally, until you become ill – or worse. Or you can surrender to the current of life and allow it to carry you towards an unknown future. That was the experiment I embarked on over the last few years, the moment I decided to resign from my role as editor-in-chief of Psychologies magazine and store my furniture with friends so I could leave my home and belongings behind. I desperately needed to regenerate, so I took a few months’ sabbatical and, with that choice, let go of all financial security. To make matters even more overwhelming, my father – my lifelong anchor – passed away the day before I moved out of my house. Talk about having my foundations shattered. 

And that was only the beginning. What I expected to be a brief digital-nomad adventure – traveling through Western Europe in a camper van with my partner Ton in search of a fresh start – turned into more than three years on the road. All of it during the covid era. 

 

In hindsight – now six years later – I can see that what I went through was a micro-version of what the world is now experiencing on a larger scale. We are collectively in a state of exhaustion, and challenged to re-evaluate and fundamentally change our assumptions – as a culture, as a civilization, as a species. We are confronting not one, but many crises calling us to let go of the old, endure the upheaval of transformation, and face a new beginning. 

The masculine paradigm we have relied on for millennia – a worldview grounded in separation, individuality, logic, survival of the fittest, competition, structure, control mechanisms, and paternal leadership – is weakening. It is becoming increasingly challenging and is collapsing under its own weight. It has reached the end of its strength. The world is shifting rapidly, and that shift is shaking our foundations to the core. We are losing control over what we once knew. We feel the chaos and uncertainty and ask ourselves endless questions. We know we must create a better future, but we don’t know what it will look like or how to reach it. We don’t know the path, nor the destination. Multiple solutions are being proposed, and we fight each other trying to impose our own survival strategies onto others, hoping for the best. But in truth, no one really knows. 

 

What struck me most during my own ‘experiment’ was the contrast between how the world responded to crisis and how I intuitively responded. While society tried to control the situation through top-down decisions – through force, regulations, new laws, technology, and even war-like language – I found myself reacting in a completely different way. While the world was stuck, I was moving. While society centered itself around fear, I was invited to trust. While many tried to fight or suppress their discomfort, I felt called to step deliberately out of my comfort zone and embrace the unease. And while the world erupted in arguments and noise, I was asked to slow down, quiet myself, and connect more deeply with humanity and with life. I was invited not to listen to the loud external chatter, but to the quietest voice within. 

 

Later, I realized that these two approaches mirrored two different ways of perceiving life: the masculine and the feminine. And knowing what I know now, I wonder why we haven’t found a way to merge these complementary strengths to address crises in a more balanced, healthy way. If not during that crisis, then hopefully in the ones to come. 

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Read more in: A Feminine Answer to Crisis, now available.