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Day 2: Navigating Life’s Biggest Changes and Thriving in What Comes Next
Journalist Poppy Harlow shares the story of how a Sunday night phone call changed her life and set her on a journey halfway around the world.
It’s been a year. No, not in the way you are thinking (though it started out that way). It’s been a year in the best possible way. It began with a Sunday night phone call last spring to tell me that the morning news program I anchored was being canceled. What followed has been the most unexpected, fascinating, joyful, and revealing year of my adult life.
The next day was my Day 2.
My husband and I have always wanted to live and work abroad with our two children, but didn’t think it would be possible given our work. As I reassessed my career, he had an opportunity to pursue an international assignment which allowed our family to move halfway around the world and set off on an adventure that has been both personally and professionally profound. We now live in Paris with our two young children, Sienna and Luca, and our yellow lab, Ollie.
When big change came to our family, so did big opportunity. It made me realize that everyone has a Day 2 — the moment after life changes forever. That change and transition is a powerful force that unites us all. Whether planned or unexpected, these life-altering transitions define the human experience. They are universal moments when everything shifts — when a diagnosis, a big move, the birth of a child, a divorce, a job loss, death of a loved one, the unearthing of an unknown family history, a second chance at life after incarceration, a veteran’s return from war, overcoming addiction, finding faith, or a bold and exciting new beginning force us into uncharted territory. What happens the day after — that is our Day 2.
We all have multiple Day 2s in our lives. The question is how we navigate, survive, surrender, and ultimately thrive in the face of this change. Because Day 2 is also the first day of the rest of our lives.
There’s a natural tendency to see Day 2 as the day after something bad, or even tragic, happens in our lives. Death, divorce, job loss, disease, and diagnosis, among others. Indeed, these things do happen, and they are followed by profound transition and change. But there are also Day 2s that follow good — even great — changes in our lives: the birth of a child, a promotion, a marriage, a new career start, overcoming addiction, the discovery of one’s faith, a release from incarceration, and more. And then there is the less expected but equally, if not more important, concept — that any day can be Day 2. The truth is, we do not need to wait for Day 2 to come for us — either a good event or a bad one. We have agency and we can choose our Day 2, both professionally and personally. These are moments of great change that we consciously choose. They are not scripted for us. They are not predetermined. They are ours to make.
I think we too often forget to acknowledge how much good there is in our Day 2. How much unexplored and unexamined joy. We often talk about failure and about the phoenix that rises from the ashes, but we rarely discuss the joy and adventure of the transition and the journey. What we do with those days in between tells us everything about who we really are, what we’re made of, and what we truly want in our lives.
Just this month, perhaps the greatest NFL quarterback to play, Tom Brady, shared a message with Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who was unexpectedly not picked in the first round of the NFL Draft. “Whatever happens, wherever you go, that’s your first day. Day 2 matters more than the draft,” Brady texted Sanders. It’s a great reminder that we choose how we go forward when life throws us the unexpected. Just look at Brady himself – a 199th draft pick who would go on to be the GOAT.
As a journalist, I spend time with people from all walks of life, and I listen to their stories. It is one of the great gifts of my profession. As a result, I spend quite a bit of time thinking about what connects us. Our common threads, even when we seem worlds apart ideologically and physically. We ask ourselves, what could a billionaire banker, a star athlete, and a grieving mother possibly have in common? More than you would expect. They are all connected by, indeed, we are all connected by, life’s guarantee: change and transition. No amount of money, status, or fame insulates us from this unifying truth. Our lives change, our worlds turn upside down, our life plans get upended, and we carry on. In fact, it is one of the most beautiful things about the human experience, and it is where our vulnerability and our empathy become our superpowers.
In studying how people experience change and transition, I have noticed that too often, we move very quickly on to the next: the next job, the next relationship or marriage, the next travel destination, the next degree, or professional achievement. When we do that, we miss out on the joy in the space between — and we also miss out on the important discovery in that liminal space. I think this is why so many of us end up in these midlife transitions, wondering how we got to the top of the proverbial mountaintop and felt half empty. We have filled one bucket in our life, but the bucket that really matters — that is driven by purpose — often feels half full, or even empty. The space we are gifted when our Day 2 comes is a chance to think deeply about how we are going to fill that second bucket, with what, and with whom.
Remember what the great J.R.R. Tolkien said: “Not all those who wander are lost.”
It is in the wandering that we discover. And it is in the discovery that we learn to live, again.
Right now, America (and I would argue the world writ large) is experiencing its own Day 2. We are deciding who we are as a nation, what our values are, and how we will go forward. For better or worse, political, social, and technological change is upending the world as we have known it.
Artificial Intelligence is fundamentally changing the future of employment and careers for millions and millions of people. Our careers that give so much purpose to our lives are being upended by AI. The central tenet of globalization is being upended. This is the moment when so much of what we have held and known to be true is fundamentally shifting beneath our feet. This all means that not only will we as individuals continue to experience our own Day 2 changes and transitions, but the society around us is as well on a large scale.
A few years ago, I discovered the poet Mary Oliver. (Not sure what took me so long!)
Countless times over the past year I have come back to the line she wrote at the end of her poem The Summer Day: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” I challenged myself with that question when my world got turned upside down. I held myself to account when I felt myself falling into the trap of choosing the road that felt safe but was uninspiring. We only get one life — this life — and it is indeed wild and precious. So, what will you choose to do with yours? What will your Day 2 be? I urge you to ask yourself that sometimes uncomfortable question, because I guarantee it will land you exactly where you were meant to be.
As the beloved Ina Garten writes in her new memoir, Be Ready When The Luck Happens: “You never know your good breaks from your bad.” I think about that line a lot. She’s exactly right.
Here’s to your Day 2.
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