If you’re done fitting into molds but terrified of the dark forest ahead, this newsletter helps you see where you are... so you stop assuming something’s wrong with you and see you’re just in transition.
Hi. I’m Brad Did
I spent 20 years as a geologist building cross‑sections from drill cuttings and seismic squiggles. Taking messy data about rock formations and building models that helped people find what they were looking for.
For the past 10 years I’ve been applying the same method to different terrain... people in major transitions. Leaving corporate structures. Building creative practices. Learning to stop performing and just be themselves.
Same skill. Different terrain.
That messy middle space where you’re not who you were but you don’t know who you’re becoming yet.
You’ve quit the job, but still open LinkedIn or email out of habit.
You’ve stopped performing, but have no idea what “just be yourself” even means.
You're building something new, but can't tell if it's authentic to you or just another learned mask.
What I Mean by “Becoming”
Becoming is shedding the false selves you built to survive. The childhood wound. The employee mask. The performance theater. The credentials armor. Stripping those away so you can find who you actually are underneath.
It’s easy to waste years in this space. Chasing titles like “Director of Something Vague” that impress your family but deaden you. Building businesses and relationships and lifestyles you think you should want.
I've had hundreds of conversations with people stuck here. Same patterns, different details.
People aren’t just changing jobs or relationships or lifestyles.
They’re leaving…
Performance theater where you put on a costume just to get through the door.
The soul-crushing factory that squeezes efficiency out of you until there’s no soul left.
The permission trap where you spend your days stroking someone else’s ego just to use your own brain.
And they’re moving toward something that doesn’t have a clean name or job title yet. A practice instead of a business. A studio where they can be weird and do good work. Agency over their own time.
But that territory between leaving and arriving? That’s where people get lost. That’s the terrain I’m mapping.
What I Mean by “Patterns”
A pattern is a repeating behavior you can’t see in yourself. Something you keep doing automatically.
Like leading with your credentials when what people actually want is to see your face light up about what you love to do.
Over-giving to prove you deserve to exist, when being helpful often means showing up… present.
Or constantly searching for the next framework, instead of noticing the ground under your feet.
Once you see a pattern, you can’t unsee it. You start catching yourself mid-sentence. “Oh, I’m doing that thing where I lead with my resume again instead of what I actually care about.”
That moment of recognition is where you get a choice.
Choice is how you navigate becoming.
What You Get
Free subscribers
Saturday pattern observations arrive as visual stories. Hand-drawn stick figures that show the pattern instead of just explaining it.
Pattern example
001 | That Thing You're Hiding Is What People Actually Want
The strategist who won’t mention their poetry. The lawyer who hides their storytelling. Projecting professional competence instead of leading with what they love.
"I'm in the Canyon stage." — Finn
Paid subscribers
You get a new map on the 1st of each month to help you navigate these patterns.
Map example
001 | The Map For That Thing You’re Hiding
The map shows you how the pattern operates across different life situations, career transitions, and relationship dynamics. What’s underneath driving it. Where else it shows up. How the pattern runs.
Not just…
“ohhh I do that” but “THAT’S why I do that”.
AND… is it helpful to me?”
From there, you can decide what to keep doing and what to stop.
No formulas. No step-by-step plans. No promises that you’ll transform into anything.
$10/month or $100/year
Ideal if you’re in a big transition and want to understand what’s actually driving your behavior instead of forcing yourself into what worked for someone else.
What Readers Are Saying
“I feel like you’ve peered into my soul.” — Doug
“It just shows how much habits drive our thinking while we could be learning something totally new.” — Finn
“Less advice, more awareness. So worth sitting with.” — Sahan
If you want someone to sit with you in the messy middle without trying to fix you or rush you through it, I offer case by case companionship… deeper, more personal, just you and me navigating toward what’s alive in your specific terrain.
