When Life Falls Apart During Manifestation: How to Trust the In-Between
When your life starts crumbling during a spiritual awakening, it can feel like something’s gone terribly wrong. In reality, this unraveling is often the first sign you’re crossing a powerful threshold—the old self dissolving to make space for who you’re becoming. In this post, I’ll share why breakdowns so often accompany breakthroughs and how to navigate the liminal space with trust and clarity.
I had a moment during meditation recently where a few people from my old life arose in my awareness—I saw them differently than I used to, and a distinct sense of, “Wow, that life is over” overcame me.
I recognized that I am no longer the person who resonated with those experiences, those dynamics, that state of mind. I had become an entirely different person.
A few weeks into my meditation journey, specifically doing the meditations of Dr. Joe Dispenza, my life—to put it mildly—completely fell apart. I had been elevating my baseline state day after day when the rug was pulled out from underneath me. Almost every relationship I had from that old identity fell away, communities I once called home exiled me, and everything I had known dissolved despite my best efforts to hold onto them (thank goodness for that).
It was raw, unglamorous, and agonizing at times, but on the other side of it, I received freedom, sovereignty, and far more enriching relationships that have taught me what love is from a divine perspective over a human perspective.
The Caterpillar Soup Stage of Spiritual Transformation
According to Scientific American, when a caterpillar enters a chrysalis, it “digests itself, releasing enzymes to dissolve all of its tissues. If you were to cut open a cocoon or chrysalis at just the right time, caterpillar soup would ooze out.”
In the process of transformation, the old life/self dissolves, and we’re left with what? Caterpillar soup. It’s jarring, unnerving, and can feel destabilizing. Your psyche might try to latch onto old patterns, programming, or reference points to gain a familiar sense of “you” only to find… there’s nothing there to hold onto.
This is the liminal state—the in-between. It’s one of the classic signs of spiritual transformation: the stage of metamorphosis where the old identity no longer exists, but the new self hasn’t fully taken form. And the discomfort of this threshold can leave you wondering: what do I do with myself?
Why the “In-Between” Feels So Unsettling (and Why That’s Normal)
But here’s the thing about our friend the caterpillar: Even before the caterpillar hatches from its egg, it grows what’s called an “imaginal disc” for each part of its adult body. So, even as he’s inching around munching on greenery, that caterpillar carries the cellular knowing of what it will become, with some caterpillars even containing “tiny rudimentary wings tucked inside their bodies, though you would never know it by looking at them.”
When you feel like everything you once knew—everything you had previously used as an anchor point to define who “you” are—no longer exists, congratulations. You crossed one of the most significant thresholds of your life, and here’s my advice on navigating the sacred space of the in-between.
If you’re in that in-between and everything feels messy, I created The Clarity Cure to help. It’s my free email course designed to cut through the noise and reconnect you to your inner knowing—especially when the old has dissolved but the new hasn’t fully formed. You can learn more about it here.
Why Staying the Course Matters When Your Old Life Falls Apart
Many people think their manifestation isn’t working when, in truth, this unraveling is part of the process. Even though the liminal is uncomfortable, there’s good news: whatever you’re doing to become your new self is working. Be it meditation, visualization, scripting, affirmations, etc., stick with it. It brought you out of Egypt—it will carry you to the Promise Land.
There’s a natural temptation to give up on conscious creating because you’re uncomfortable in this phase. You look around your life, and all the old familiar landmarks have disappeared. So, your reference points for “success” can easily become scrambled. Maybe you’re wondering, “Am I even on the right path? How do I know my manifestation is working?”
How to Recognize You’re Still on the Right Path
Consciously, you might tell yourself: I didn’t sign up for loss. I set the intention to gain. The ego will label the events of the dissolution of the old life as “negative” or “undesirable.” Fortunately, Neville Goddard gave us the perfect insight into what’s happening in his 1968 lecture Live in the End:
“If you dare to assume this very night that you have a better job than you now hold or that you have a larger income, you may be fired tomorrow. Don’t be concerned! On reflection, you’ll see it was necessary to move you towards the fulfillment of your assumption. You could be fired! And I wouldn’t bat an eye if you told me tomorrow, “Well, I did what you told me. You know what happened? I was fired.” I have seen that. It takes someone to fire you to get you into a better job. I have seen that time and again.”
If your life is falling apart, have no fear, friend. This is a documented pattern in this work, and it means you are indeed on the right path.
Feeling vs. Failing: The Role of Emotional Release
Of course, do what you need to do to support your human self through this dissolution. Process your emotions in healthy ways, regulate your nervous system, be compassionate toward yourself as you navigate the unknown. Moving through any grief, anger, frustration, and fear isn’t “falling out of that state.” It’s honoring the alchemical process you’re being called into by the Divine. By releasing this emotional energy, you free yourself from it.
In short: feel your feelings. Let it out as you let it all go. But don’t give up your faith in the promise. Be angry, but sin not.
(“Sin” as in the metaphysical definition of accepting a reality you don’t want.)
How to Focus on Your Desired Future Instead of the Past
In the midst of change, it’ll be habitual and even, at times, automatic to revert to the old self and that self’s ways of being. You might reminisce on old situations, replay conversations that no longer exist, or worry about circumstances that no longer apply to your reality.
It’s vital to maintain awareness of where your awareness is. As Reverend Ike says, “What you recognize, you energize.” Where you continue to place your awareness is what you’re giving life to with your consciousness.
Every Small Shift of Focus Counts
No, you don’t have to become a neurotic mess trying to micromanage and police every single thought. But when you do notice your awareness resting in the expired reality, simply redirect it to the present. Every time you notice you’re not aware of what you want to be aware of, that’s a win. And every time you choose the present, that’s another win.
I recommend developing a few tools to have in your back pocket, so you have something to fall back on when you catch yourself dwelling on the old. This might be taking a deep breath, repeating a mantra, or simply reminding yourself that that life is over. As long as it’s natural to you, allow every redirect to be a victory as you choose now over then.
The Power of Surrender: Trusting the Unknown During Transformation
We hear the word “surrender”’ all the time, but the practical application is another story. The in-between will stretch your muscles for surrender because, oftentimes, there’s nothing else to do but surrender. As much as your ego might want to cling to the known for a sense of control, the question I invite you to consider is whether you want illusion or truth.
The illusion is that you can control every detail, every unfolding, every second of your life and the experiences that you will have. The truth is that you’re undergoing a metamorphosis of divine orchestration.
Who do you trust with your transformation? Your ego or God?
How to Deepen Into “I Don’t Know” Without Fear
The act of surrender requires spiritual maturity and humility. We’re called to set aside our egoic notion that we know it all, do it all, and control it all as we lay this to rest at the altar of truth. Are you willing to admit where your authority ends and where divine authority begins?
As Neville Goddard said in The Power of Awareness*, “Self surrender is essential, and by that is meant 'the confession of personal impotence.’”
“I don’t know” is one of the most spiritually profound confessions one can make to themselves. What will happen next? I don’t know. How will it unfold? I don’t know. When will it happen? I don’t know.
The not-knowing will feel uncomfortable—even offensive—to your ego, but the more you deepen into not knowing, you will find freedom, trust, and infinite possibility lie underneath the rubble of illusion. When you are capable of full presence with the unknown, without resisting or judging it, the more this unknown will become energizing rather than oppressive.
You will find a new truth: that anything is possible for you, including the miraculous, supernatural, and all you know is meant for you.
Trust the Process of Becoming Your True Self
Trusting the process of spiritual awakening means knowing breakdowns are often breakthroughs. If your old life feels like it’s collapsing, know that it’s not a punishment—it’s proof that you’re evolving.
Transformation asks for surrender, for courage, and for faith in the unseen, but it also delivers freedom, alignment, and a life that reflects who you truly are. Trust the space between what’s ending and what’s being born. This liminal state isn’t a void. It’s a pregnant pause, the sacred ground of your becoming.
If this post resonates and you want a grounded way to support yourself in the liminal, sign up for The Clarity Cure. It’s a free email course that helps you move through confusion, release old patterns, and align with your next chapter. Think of it as an anchor for your becoming. You can get more detail right here.
