# 82 | How To Harness the Power of Transitional Moments in your Life with Cerissa McKinnis
"Sometimes in change, you have to be that relentless. If, and that's not even knowing what the end was gonna be. I had no idea what to expect on the other side. I just knew that I needed to go to the other side." - Cerissa Tate
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In today's episode, I'm catching up with Cerissa McKinnis of Industrious Interiors in San Antonio Texas who offers luxury kitchen and bath design and whole home transformations. She's a long-time member inside the Interior Designer's Business Blueprint but today we are talking about a book she's written - Navigating the Liminal Places: How to harness the power of transitional moments in your life.
Her book uses the metaphor of home to help readers unveil the life lessons held in times of transitions. From the bedroom to the kitchen, we consider the essence of these spaces, revealing how they mirror the transitions in our lives. We often consider times of change and transformation to be challenging - and they are - but Cerissa offers a way of viewing these moments as opportunities for personal and spiritual growth.
Liminality in our Lives
The concept of something being liminal and the relevance in our lives is that it is an intermediate or in-between state that can often be illustrated by physical structures (bridges, doorways, etc.). Liminality in our lives may be a time of transition or in-between, such as the time between Christmas and New Years, adolescence, and other life transitions (career changes, waiting on test results, etc). These times in our lives can often be significant and challenging as well.
Maintaining a positive mindset during these liminal periods in our lives can turn many of our transitional moments into opportunities for growth.
Making Hard Decisions
Cerissa shares how her journey at Spelman College was marked by a poignant struggle between honoring her late mother’s dreams and following her own heart. during a transitional period. When we fail to meet an expectation or previous goal we may have had, we often enter a time period where we feel like we are stuck in the in-between. In this case, this failure led to an existential crisis, prompting her to pause, reflect, and seek guidance. Through this period of introspection, she discovered a passion for interior design, a field she knew little about but felt drawn to. While still a journey through the in-between to get there, the moment she started her first class, she realized she had found her true calling, blending creativity with the analytical skills she cherished.
Maintaining a Positive Mindset
Throughout difficult periods it's important to maintain a positive mindest. During her own transition into interior design, Cerissa maintained a positive outlook, a mindset instilled by her mother, who always encouraged her to see the best in every situation. Resilience often exemplifies the importance of community, self-reflection, and relentless pursuit of one’s passions. It is crucial to find nourishment during transitional periods, whether through supportive relationships, mindful consumption of uplifting content, or engaging in activities that promote personal growth and creativity.
Divine Intervention and Your True Calling
When faith and determination are met with the perfect opportunity, the creative process and faith can allow us to pursue our true callings. Often asking for guidance or help and being open to unexpected solutions can lead to remarkable outcomes. Cerissa shares that when writing her book she was feeling overwhelmed and pressed for time, staying up until the early hours of the morning, and struggling to balance her writing with her other commitments. Recognizing the urgency and importance of her message she asked God to provide a way to complete her book. After a project she was working on concluded, a new project experienced a delay, giving her an unexpected three-week window. This period allowed her to fully dedicate herself to writing, turning what seemed an impossible task into her full-time job for those three weeks.
Finding ways to foster creativity and nurture your soul, during liminal periods, and during non-transitional periods is key. Whether you foster your creativity through reading or consuming content in another format, it's important to feed your mind and soul in a way that helps you create the most purpose in your own interior design business.
Mentioned in this episode:
FREE DOWNLOAD: 7 Habits of Highly Profitable Interior Designers
FREE Masterclass: 6 Park Framework for A Thriving Interior Design Business
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