Skip to content

Shop Our Holiday Gift Guide!

We're All Going through a 'Lifequake': Here's How to Get Through It

We're All Going through a 'Lifequake': Here's How to Get Through It

By Stacey Lindsay
Copy to clipboard M389.2 48h70.6L305.6 224.2 487 464H345L233.7 318.6 106.5 464H35.8L200.7 275.5 26.8 48H172.4L272.9 180.9 389.2 48zM364.4 421.8h39.1L151.1 88h-42L364.4 421.8z
Best-selling author Bruce Feiler had been living what he called a 'linear life”…he discovered his calling, got married, and became a father all within the expected timeframe that society feeds us. Then in his early forties, Feiler got 'walloped by life.” A cancer diagnosis. A near bankruptcy. And his father tried to take his own life six times. 'This was an awful period where it felt like life was coming at me from all ways,” he says.Feiler searched for a book to help him through these hard times, but he couldn't find one. So he set out to write one. He traveled to all 50 states to interview hundreds of people who'd been through giant life changes, from losing loved ones to switching careers. Feiler learned that there is no such thing as a 'linear life.” Big transitions, which Feiler calls 'lifequakes,” happen all the time, and there are ways that we can cope with them. He compiles all these tools in his new book, Life Is in the Transitions.Feiler recently joined Maria for a Sunday Paper Live to talk about his profound learnings, and the ways we can thrive during transition. In their conversation, which we've edited and condensed below, Feiler offers a positive spin on how to look at change and the counsel that we all need right now as we face a huge "lifequake"…the Election. 'We can get through this together,” Feiler says. 'You're not alone. There are tools.”

Stacey Lindsay

Stacey Lindsay is a journalist covering women + society, and an editor at The Sunday Paper. Her first book, BEING 40: The Decade of Letting Go—and Embracing Who We Are (The Open Field/Viking Penguin) is available for pre-order.

Please note that we may receive affiliate commissions from the sales of linked products.

Want to learn more about Sunday Paper PLUS?

You're invited to join our membership community! Sign up today to access Maria's "I've Been Thinking" essay archive, our award-winning conversation series Life Above the Noise with Maria, our SP+ exclusive newsletter “Be Lit: Books for Your Deeply Meaningful Life,” weekly audio messages from Maria, and more exclusive content.

Become a Member

Read More Discover Related Stories Above the Noise

Kate Bowler.

Kate Bowler on Faith, Fragility, and the Surprising Gift of Fear

By Christine Boggis

Vaccine.

News Above the Noise—Week of November 30, 2025

By The Sunday Paper Team

Device with Maria Shriver Sunday Paper