Edges of Growth Part II: Transforming 2024 Insights into 2025 Action
Sharing insights turned lessons sparked during a month-long pop-up city called Edge Esmeralda to carry forward as you powerfully step into 2025.
What lessons are you carrying forward as you powerfully step into 2025?
This week, we’re diving into Part II — more insights sparked during a month-long pop-up city called Edge Esmeralda. This transformative playground for growth pushed bold edges for Wide Open Spaces, and I’m excited to share these reflections and tools you can explore as you prepare for the year ahead.
In case you missed it, Edges of Growth: Part I (released last week) explored insights like:
Risk-taking attracts risk-takers
The power of making BOLD requests
How asking a powerful question can change the game
Getting out of your head and trusting your system’s intelligence
TL;DR Insights from my 2024 exploration, shared in detail below:
KEY: You can jump straight to the ones that call to you or savor them all — each one offers a juicy edge.
take note of relational impact.
transitions take time.
invite people into your mess.
create rituals for cohesion.
I hope this post inspires and supports you. If you feel Wide Open Spaces might be the right fit to support your personal or team growth in 2025, I’d love to hear from you.
Nasya
// INSIGHT #1: take note of relational impact. \
i noticed something happening in my own relationship, and then in conversations with other couples. When you choose to spend time doing one thing, it takes away from the others. If you are in a romantic partnership and you are in an immersive experience [read: retreat, conference, program], they will feel the impact of your attention there instead of with them. That is not a bad thing. the question to ask before you go is “how do we want to be with the dynamic shift and how much attention will I have?” and while you are there checking in with the same question with your partner. It does take a toll, and it doesn’t mean it’s wrong, the question is what is in place to support that shift?
with my clients who are founders, leaders, and the couples I coach, we are constantly designing for relational impact- what are other things taking your time, how does that impact the relationship and how do we intentionally design to create health in your relationships while investing and exploring other parts of yourself.
this applies well beyond romantic relationships- relational impact is happening in all your relationships, some need more attention than others.
EDGE QUESTION #1: how can you design for relational impact, as you plan your next trip/event/experience?
// INSIGHT 2: transitions take time \
i don’t know about you, but as a 70% nomad, I am transitioning A LOT. And, I know my rhythm, yet sometimes I forget and get frustrated with myself. Sound familiar? This is your permission to give yourself time to transition. Our systems need it to adjust to newness and find our groove- some people need a few hours, some people months, to learn your rhythm and design for it, to create the space to allow sadness, doubt, and uncertainty to be there without meaning you need to leave or have made the wrong choice.
this also happens after you return from an experience read: summer adventures. Give grace, give time.
EDGE QUESTION #2: what transitions are you moving through this season? How might you make them more spacious, more attuned to your unique rhythm of transition?
this is your permission slip.
// INSIGHT #3: invite people into your mess \
in addition to the theater show & team workshops, I led 80 people through an immersive experience for people to connect to each other at a campsite getaway weekend.
i was supposed to have clementines and there were some logistical challenges so there I was going up without the one prop I needed, I got creative on the spot and decided we were going to do the experience with our imagination instead. Instead of just introducing it like that, I named what was supposed to happen and invited people into the play of the pivot and the messiness. It gave others permission and created a space of play. It invited a whole new way to do this experience that I would never have thought about if I had the prop I needed in the first place.
EDGE QUESTION #3: what is something that is not going quite as planned right now? how might it become play? can you invite people into your mess giving others permission to swim in that space too?
// INSIGHT #4: create rituals for cohesion \
i piloted a week-long friendship experiment while on-site, to create some space for people to encounter friendship in new ways.
imagine a group of people on secret missions every day, pushing their friendship edges - ways they want to get stronger in friendships— and deepening their connections while simultaneously creating a magical movement for the entire Edge Esmeralda community. Each day at the communal dinner meet up, new people join in, doubling the group's size daily, celebrating and supporting the risks people took that day, ending the week with new possibilites in friendships and a stronger community.
as an ongoing experience with new people joining each day, I had to balance making new people feel included and making sure the original people who came to the first experience would feel like everyone was meeting their investment and level of vulnerability.
as new people joined the experience from Day 2 onwards, I had to consider a key question: When I invite new people in, how do I keep the core & vibe of what the group is about so it doesn’t dilute?
two rituals made all the difference in making this experiment a success:
initiation = every day during communal meals when the group met and when new people joined, we went around and asked the same two questions that everyone answered during the first experience. The OG’s in the circle deepened their answer each day, and it was powerful every time!
welcome announcements: when newbies joined the telegram group, I welcomed each person by name - helping them feel personally welcomed and also calling them up to be an active participant, creating a fun ritual that made the group feel intentional, fun, and held as it continued to grow.
// Summary Note://
I am excited to release this piece as we prepare to step into 2025—a powerful moment to integrate the lessons of this past year and bring them forward with intention. Edge Esmeralda was a transformative edge for me. It represented a big commitment, one where I explored new directions: doing my first live show, conducting market research while immersing myself with leaders in new industries, guiding teams through direct coaching, and leading newly refined workshops.
The transition into a new year is an incredible opportunity to reflect on what we’ve learned, expand what’s possible, and refine our vision for what’s ahead. If you’ve read this far, I hope you feel a spark of inspiration and encouragement to embrace your own edges and bring your growth into the new year more boldly than before.
When I’m integrating and evolving, I always gather my coaches and community around me, creating a space of courageous expansion together. Having the right support as we grow our capacity changes everything.
If you feel that coaching support is the right next step for your own edge journey, be in touch at nasya.miller@gmail.com/ and check the multiple avenues we can explore together on my website.
Until next time,
Nasya