Remixing Reality: Leading Through Anxiety in a Glitching World
Mini-Series: Remixing Reality | Post 1 of 3
The other night, I sat down with my teenage son to watch The Matrix—a film I hadn’t seen in years but remembered as iconic. My husband wanted to share it with him as a kind of rite of passage, a classic that, back when it first came out, felt like it cracked open something in our cultural consciousness.
It held up. Maybe even more than I expected.
There’s a quiet moment early in the film where Neo visits the Oracle. While he’s waiting, he meets a child bending a spoon with her mind. When he asks how she’s doing it, she says gently:
“Do not try to bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead… only try to realize the truth.”
“What truth?” Neo asks.
“There is no spoon.”
It’s a small moment—but it’s the beginning of Neo’s transformation. Later, during a scene etched into cinematic memory, Neo turns to face Agent Smith. Bullets fly toward him—and instead of dodging, he sees them. The bullets slow. The illusion breaks. He doesn’t just move faster; he moves differently. The Matrix—the system—no longer holds power over him.
He’s not playing by those rules anymore.
What Do You Do When the System Stops Making Sense?
That moment has been echoing in my mind lately. So many people I work with—leaders, creatives, caregivers, educators—are navigating realities that no longer fit. Systems that feel glitchy. Expectations that don’t add up. An undercurrent of anxiety that’s hard to name and harder to shake.
We’re still showing up. Still trying. But the old rules don’t hold. The world has shifted.
And we’re being asked—not always gently—to let go of what we thought was real.
But here’s the thing:
Letting go doesn’t mean giving up.
It means tuning in.
It means noticing what’s already here—and how it might be remixed into something new.
Possibility Is Not a Destination—It’s a Practice
One of the choices in our 7 Choices framework is Possibility. Not as optimism. Not as fantasy. But as a discipline of attention.
Possibility is noticing intersections.
It’s paying attention to patterns, overlaps, and unexpected inputs.
It’s taking stock of everything around you—ideas, voices, tools, experiences—and asking:
How else could this fit together?
We live in a remix culture. Music, language, identity, leadership—it’s all shifting, blending, evolving. The Anxiety remix of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” is one my daughter and I hear often lately. It’s raw. Emotional. Familiar but recast. And it’s strangely comforting—because it reflects how we actually feel right now. Not polished. Not over it. Just… real.
Remixing Is Leadership
Leadership today isn’t about certainty. It’s about creativity.
It’s not about having the answers—it’s about making space for new configurations to emerge.
To lead through anxiety doesn’t mean pretending everything is fine. It means asking:
• What am I holding onto that no longer serves?
• What have I overlooked that might hold new energy?
• Where are unexpected connections trying to emerge?
This is the creative practice of leadership—especially in uncertain times.
This is possibility as a pattern-recognition tool.
This is remixing as a way forward.
A Practice for the Week Ahead
Here’s a reflection prompt to work with this week. You can write, voice-note, draw, collage—whatever helps you see more clearly.
What is one belief, habit, or expectation I’ve inherited that no longer fits the way I lead or live? How could I update or reframe it to better match who I am now?
Coming Next in the Series:
“The Soundtrack of Now: Anxiety, Sampling Gotye, and What Remixes Reveal About Our Moment”
And if you’re ready to go deeper, I’ve created something for you:
📥 The Remix Journal—a free, downloadable reflection tool designed to help you take stock, notice intersections, and reassemble the world around you in a way that renews energy and expands possibility.
[👉 Download the Remix Journal]
Because everything you need is already here.
The story doesn’t have to stay the same.
And the rules? Maybe they were never real to begin with.