Using Dante’s opening in the “dark wood,” host Chad Prevost frames midlife as waking up to being lost after sleepwalking through socially prescribed success, and reframes “abandon hope” as an instruction to stop relying on the old self and tools that created the crisis. He describes needing guidance beyond oneself, like Virgil leading Dante downward into the inferno to see the patterns that trap people, which he links to coaching clients’ pervasive belief “I am not enough,” shaped by culture or family systems. Drawing on Epictetus, Adler, Auden, and the Greek concept hamartia, he argues the ego’s protective adaptations become traps, and Dante’s hell illustrates suffering rooted in lies, from unconscious “errors” to willful avoidance; the series explores this descent as a path to a freer, fuller creative life.00:00 Saturday Series Intro00:58 Waking in the Dark Wood03:10 Midlife Lostness04:08 Abandon Hope as Instruction06:02 Virgil and the Descent07:45 The Not Enough Story10:43 Separating Self from History11:49 Hamartia and Ego Armor13:40 Truth Lies and the Circles15:35 Series Purpose and Farewell

FREE — THE DIFFICULTY FIELD GUIDE

Eight difficulties every working writer faces, and what to ask when each one shows up.

→ crossroadspublishing.group/assets/pdfs/The_Difficulty_Field_Guide.pdf

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WHERE TO FIND ME

Substack — new essays Wednesdays, the Working Publisher news digest Fridays

→ chadprevost.substack.com

The Difficulty — Monday (the why), Thursday (the how), Saturday (essay readings) — wherever you listen to podcasts

→ chadprevost.com/the-difficulty

Crossroads Publishing Group — publishing services, IF/THEN Books, the Iris Blackwood mystery series

→ crossroadspublishing.group

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“The difficulty in life is the choice.”