What is the liminal space—and why it matters

Liminal is an architectural term.
It means a space that connects other spaces. Think hallway, plaza, arcade (the European kind, not the 12-year-old birthday party kind 🤣).

These spaces are designed to let things happen.
Take a plaza: you could host a wedding, a protest, a farmers market, or just sit quietly in the sun. It’s a space of openness, invitation, possibility. Not an end point, but a setting.

Life’s liminal spaces are similar.
They are times between—between jobs, identities, relationships, roles, ways of being.
But more than that, they are wide-open stretches where the usual structures are softened, and something new can emerge.

The richest possibilities often come when we linger there. When we don’t rush to fill the silence or fix the undefined. When we ask:
What could happen here?
What’s trying to come into view?

And yet, that’s not how we’re taught to approach these spaces.
We’re taught to power walk across the plaza.
To keep our eyes on the far building—the next job, the next decision, the next version of ourselves.

But what a missed opportunity that is.

Because the truth is: the liminal space is both where you pause and where you begin again.
And in my experience—both personally and with clients—it’s where you uncover and shape the newest, truest version of yourself.

When you find yourself in the midst of a liminal space, don’t miss this chance. Savor it.

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Over the next five posts, I’m going to be sharing the five different types of liminal spaces, from most obvious to least. (Not for nothing, I’ve been through every one — more than once!)

If this space feels familiar to you, join me for Liminal by Design on May 9.
It’s a short, potent course to help you make sense of this moment—and take tangible action inside it.
You’ll also get the rest of this series delivered straight to your inbox when you sign up.

(Photo via Unsplash)