full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Bruce Feiler: The secret to mastering life's biggest transitions

Unscramble the Blue Letters


This time, though, I wanted to learn how to get unstuck. Like my dad, I was born in the acaermin South. And for years I had what I now think of as a linear life. I went to college, I sreattd wirtnig, I did it for no money for a while, I had some success, I got mrreiad and had children. But then in my 40s, I was just walloped by life. First I got cancer as a new dad of identical twin daughters. Then I almost went bankrupt. Then my dad had that suicide spree. For a long time, I felt smhae and fear about these events. I didn't know how to tell that story. I didn't want to tell that sorty. When I did, I discovered that everyone feels their life has been upended in some way. That their life is somehow off-schedule, off-track, off-kilter. That the life they're livnig is not the life they expected. That they're living life out of order.

Open Cloze


This time, though, I wanted to learn how to get unstuck. Like my dad, I was born in the ________ South. And for years I had what I now think of as a linear life. I went to college, I _______ _______, I did it for no money for a while, I had some success, I got _______ and had children. But then in my 40s, I was just walloped by life. First I got cancer as a new dad of identical twin daughters. Then I almost went bankrupt. Then my dad had that suicide spree. For a long time, I felt _____ and fear about these events. I didn't know how to tell that story. I didn't want to tell that _____. When I did, I discovered that everyone feels their life has been upended in some way. That their life is somehow off-schedule, off-track, off-kilter. That the life they're ______ is not the life they expected. That they're living life out of order.

Solution


  1. writing
  2. living
  3. started
  4. american
  5. married
  6. shame
  7. story

Original Text


This time, though, I wanted to learn how to get unstuck. Like my dad, I was born in the American South. And for years I had what I now think of as a linear life. I went to college, I started writing, I did it for no money for a while, I had some success, I got married and had children. But then in my 40s, I was just walloped by life. First I got cancer as a new dad of identical twin daughters. Then I almost went bankrupt. Then my dad had that suicide spree. For a long time, I felt shame and fear about these events. I didn't know how to tell that story. I didn't want to tell that story. When I did, I discovered that everyone feels their life has been upended in some way. That their life is somehow off-schedule, off-track, off-kilter. That the life they're living is not the life they expected. That they're living life out of order.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
life transitions 5
life transition 5
tip number 5
life story 3
lesson number 3
collective involuntary 3
linear life 2
thought life 2
average person 2
involuntary lifequake 2
messy middle 2
long goodbye 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
collective involuntary lifequake 2

Important Words


  1. american
  2. bankrupt
  3. born
  4. cancer
  5. children
  6. college
  7. dad
  8. daughters
  9. discovered
  10. events
  11. expected
  12. fear
  13. feels
  14. felt
  15. identical
  16. learn
  17. life
  18. linear
  19. living
  20. long
  21. married
  22. money
  23. order
  24. shame
  25. south
  26. spree
  27. started
  28. story
  29. success
  30. suicide
  31. time
  32. twin
  33. unstuck
  34. upended
  35. walloped
  36. wanted
  37. writing
  38. years