The In-Between: Life in the Micro - Softcover

Espinosa, Christian

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798989407910

Publisher: Shrinking Ego, 2023

Synopsis

Some regrets don’t hit you all at once. They seep in at the corners of your life, at night or on a long drive, until they become a refrain. Those are the worst regrets of all.

I was living in a bubble that burst on May 9, 2022. It was the middle of the afternoon. As my partner Vanessa and I approached a major intersection, a blue car accelerated, ran the red light, and T-boned a black truck directly in front of us.

BOOM! The blue car’s hood crumpled like an accordion to absorb the impact. Within seconds, its front end was completely smashed, and its windows were broken. Then, everything went out of focus, except for what I needed to do—assess the scene for safety, check on the drivers of the blue car and black truck, and call 911. Nothing else mattered—I felt a heightened sense of purpose.

I had always focused on one macro moment after another—the next mountain to climb or business to start. I hadn’t spent much time appreciating the micro-moments—life in between the macros. I’d been living in a macro-moment bubble.

The accident awakened a desire to paint a complete picture of who I wanted to be and how I wanted to approach my life. This is my story of learning how to value the in-between and prioritize consciously living in the micro.

About this title

About the Author

Christian Espinosa spent decades being the man who never stopped. Raised in a turbulent home that taught him to face the world alone, he turned that drive into a relentless pursuit of achievement, and learned the hard way that reaching every goal can still leave you empty. The In-Between is the story of how he stopped chasing the horizon long enough to find the life happening right in front of him.
 
That search for presence and connection sits at the center of his work. He is a bestselling author and sought-after keynote speaker who writes and speaks about the gap between success and fulfillment. His first book, The Smartest Person in the Room, explored the same human truths through the lens of cybersecurity.
 
Christian is also an entrepreneur and a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate and veteran. He built and sold the cybersecurity company Alpine Security and now leads Blue Goat Cyber. His drive and curiosity have carried him to extremes: 24 Ironman triathlons, two of the Seven Summits, skydiving with a C-License, diving as a PADI Divemaster, and time in the Mexican jungle with Mayan shamans.
 
He believes it is never too late to change, and that the richest parts of life are often the ones we almost miss.

From the Back Cover

He spent his whole life chasing the horizon. He almost missed everything in between.

Christian Espinosa was a high achiever's high achiever. Career, company, Ironmans, summits. From the outside, he had won. Inside, he felt empty, locked onto the next goal and blind to the moments passing right in front of him.

The In-Between is his unguarded story of waking up. It traces his path from a turbulent childhood and a "me against the world" mindset to a life built on presence, connection, and intention. No filter, no polish, just what worked, what failed, and what he learned along the way.

This is a memoir about the space between the big moments, the small ones we rush past, and what happens when we finally choose to live there.

Wherever you are, whatever you are chasing, it carries one message worth holding onto: it is never, ever too late to begin again.

From the Inside Flap

From the outside, Christian Espinosa had it all. A thriving career, a company he built and sold, 24 Ironman finishes, summits on two of the Seven Summits. On the inside, he was running on a hamster wheel, chasing the next achievement and feeling emptier with each one.

The In-Between is the story of how that changed. After a turbulent childhood that taught him to face the world alone, Christian built a life obsessed with the macro: goals, outcomes, and the relentless push toward what comes next. It worked, until it didn't. A pandemic low, a hard reckoning, and a chance accident on an Illinois road forced him to see what he had been speeding past all along.

What he found was the in-between, the small moments that happen when life is not colliding with a big goal. Learning to live there changed how he leads, how he loves, and how he shows up for the people who matter most.

Part memoir, part philosophy of living, The In-Between shares what worked, what didn't, and the lessons Christian is still learning. It is an honest, flawed, deeply human account of trading achievement for presence, and ego for connection.

If you have ever wondered why reaching the goal never feels like enough, this book offers another way to live. It is never too late to begin.

Edition details

• Publisher: Shrinking Ego
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798989407910
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 214