In previous posts, I’m noticing a key belief unraveling. It wasn’t conscious to me, but I can see now that I had believed I must have one true calling and purpose (dharma) that must be discovered. And now, I’m seeing how mastering the art of personal reinvention can help us flow through a more fluid concept of dharma.

100 Liminal Days is an experimental project of embracing my current transitional season after exiting my business by sharing an honest, real-time account of my self-initiation experience in daily posts. I’m using The Artist’s Way as a guiding tool, and sending shorter weekly recaps only via my newsletter. Visit Day 1/100 to learn more and sign up to get the weekly recaps delivered to your inbox.

Reinvention Inspiration from Arnold Schwarzenegger

If you are looking for a stellar example of successful personal reinvention, go watch the Netflix docu-series, Arnold, about Arnold Schwarzenegger. To my surprise, when I saw this show last year, I found a load of inspiration from his story. What fascinates me most is how he reinvented himself throughout his life.

First of all, he came from a small, rural village in Austria where he lived until he was 19 years old. The population of Thal, Styria in 2014 was around 2,200, and likely even smaller in the fifties when Arnold lived there.

As someone who came from a similar-sized town in Central Texas, I have a deep understanding of how volatile our potential can be when our foundational upbringing starts with such a small worldview. Getting out of a small town like this is a feat in itself, in my opinion.

But beyond that, his father was strict and abusive and showed a blatant distaste for Arnold. It was partly due to the German-Austrian mentality of that time, but Arnold rebelled early and dreamed of moving to America, and becoming rich and famous.

Arnold as a Bodybuilder and Real Estate Investor

The way I see it, this was Arnold in his survivor era. He did not quit, he outworked everyone else, and he imagined a way where there was no way – until the way appeared under his feet. He began bodybuilding when he was just 15 years old, and this was his ticket to America. By age 20, he won the title, Mr. Universe, and he went on to win Mr. Olympia seven times after that.

He had reached the peak of his bodybuilding career and no longer found the same satisfaction in it, but he had also already gotten a start as a businessman. He co-founded a brick-laying company and a mail-order fitness pamphlet business not long after he arrived in the US. Later during his bodybuilding era, he began investing heavily in real estate. The real estate investments were how he became a millionaire at age 25 – all before he was even a US citizen.

Arnold as a Movie Star

But he didn’t stop there. He continued with business ventures related to bodybuilding, while shifting into a plan to reinvent himself as an action film actor. This was how he became world famous, but just as with bodybuilding, he eventually reached what seemed to be the peak of his success.

Like Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite, so many of us try to hang onto our “glory days,” but like all things, times and circumstances change. We can grasp tightly to our current view of success and stay stagnant, or we can adapt and redefine our purpose to keep going.

Arnold as a Politician

And Arnold did just that again. While pursuing his careers in business and acting, he also found his way into small roles in the political sphere on fitness councils. Then, in 2003, he was elected governor of California and served until 2011.

Beyond his role as governor, he has shifted again to being a voice and philanthropist for environmental and public health advocacy.

You’ll have to watch the docuseries for the juicy details, but this repeated act of personal reinvention is something to note. If Arnold had believed that his one true calling and purpose was bodybuilding, his impact on the world would have been extremely limited. No one would know who he is today, he would not be rich, and he certainly never would have had the notoriety he needed to be elected into a state leadership position.

If he had stopped with acting, he would have still been rich and famous (his originally stated goals), but most likely his impact and influence on the world around him would have diminished over time. Instead, he acknowledged that it was time to pivot into something new and in service to others in a greater capacity.

Arnold’s Dharma

At first glance, a bodybuilder turned action movie star turned governor seems pretty ridiculous and fantastical. But if you zoom out and look at the big picture, you might see that Arnold was living aligned with his dharma essentially the entire time.

At age 15, he likely wouldn’t have dreamed of being the governor of California one day, but the possibility of governorship required this foundational step of finding a way to live in America first. Obtaining wealth, citizenship, business experience, and public fame were all key milestones that made his political career and influence a possibility.

Arnold’s life fits neatly into three wildly different acts of one story. The threads in the fabric of who Arnold is were always there – even when he could not see what the future had in store for him. The reason it ties together so well for him is because he was able to recognize at the precise moments that it was time to release an old identity, nurture his other interests, and redefine success yet again.

In other words, his dharma did not change, only his attention.

Dharma is Fluid

Allowing myself to see that my dharma is fluid feels like exhaling a big sigh. The tension I’ve held (physically, emotionally, and mentally) was necessary for success in my own first act, my own survivor era. For a long time, I believed that was the only way to keep achieving more.

But our dharma unfolds slowly. Like a beautiful, intricate tapestry, the threads are all there. Until it’s unfolded before us and we focus our attention, there are parts of it that cannot yet be seen.

I know the threads of my dharma are all here. Being a business owner and CEO is/was part of my dharma, not the whole story. I’m giving myself permission to reinvent myself, even in wildly different ways from previous dharma-aligned work I’ve done. It’s all contributing to the tapestry, and I’ll unfold new parts of it at just the right time.

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