April Rinne: Thriving Through Change After Losing Both Parents at 20

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Srinivas Rao

Society & Culture

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2026

⏱️ 82 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After losing both parents in a car accident at age 20, April Rinne developed a framework for navigating constant change that became her book Flux. She discusses the eight superpowers for thriving in uncertainty—including running slower, seeing what is invisible, and letting go of the future—drawing from her work as a futurist and her deeply personal experience with loss.

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0:00.0	As you probably notice, this month, we're bringing you our Life of Purpose series and revisiting
0:04.6	some of our most transformative episodes. Tune in to explore expert insights and practical
0:09.4	strategies on help, performance, and community well-being, all aimed at helping you achieve
0:14.4	personal and professional fulfillment. If you sign up for the newsletter, you'll not only get
0:18.5	recaps of the key ideas in each interview, but at the end of the series, you'll receive our free Life of Purpose ebook.
0:24.5	What you have to do is go to UnmistakableCreative.com slash LifePurpose. Again, that's
0:28.9	unmistakablecreative.com slash life purpose. I was 20, and I was studying overseas halfway around
0:36.1	the world, and I got a phone call right at the end of that year of studies.
0:40.3	But basically, both of my parents were killed in a car accident.
0:46.5	And it happened out of the blue when they died.
0:50.4	You know, needless to say, my whole life flipped upside down.
0:56.2	It wasn't just how do I rebuild my family, but it was how do I deal with my grief and anxiety? What do I do about my career? All of a sudden,
1:01.9	I've got to be self-sufficient. How do I take care of myself? Like everything just melted.
1:09.6	And it led to a very sort of rational, irrational fear that I didn't
1:15.5	have long to live either and that any one of us could be knocked off tomorrow, which candidly is
1:20.2	true. But I began to really live that experience, almost at a cellular level. And even though I had good health and lots of
1:29.1	energy and I was only 20, I had this very, very existential sense of the fragility of life,
1:37.4	but also the fact that we're all on borrowed time. I'm Sreeny Rao, and this is the Unmistakable
1:41.8	Creative Podcast, where you get a window into the stories
1:44.5	and insights of the most innovative and creative minds who started movements, built thriving
1:48.9	businesses, written bestselling books, and created insanely interesting art. For more, check out
1:53.9	our 500 episode archive at UnmistakableCreative.com. April, welcome to the Unmistakable Creative. Thanks so much for taking the time to join us.
	...

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