The Next Day

Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward

De: Melinda French Gates

Narrado por: Melinda French Gates

In a rare window into some of her life’s pivotal moments, Melinda French Gates draws from previously untold stories to offer a new perspective on encountering transitions.

This program is read by the author.

“You don’t get to be my age without navigating all kinds of transitions. Some you embraced and some you never expected. Some you hoped for and some you fought as hard as you could.”–Melinda French Gates

Transitions are moments in which we step out of our familiar surroundings and into a new landscape—a space that, for many people, is shadowed by confusion, fear, and indecision. The Next Day accompanies listeners as they cross that space, offering guidance on how to make the most of the time between an ending and a new beginning and how to move forward into the next day when the ground beneath you is shifting.

In this book, Melinda will reflect, for the first time in audio, on some of the most significant transitions in her own life, including becoming a parent, the death of a dear friend, and her departure from the Gates Foundation. The stories she tells illuminate universal lessons about loosening the bonds of perfectionism, helping friends navigate times of crisis, embracing uncertainty, and more.

Each one of us, no matter who we are or where we are in life, is headed toward transitions of our own. With her signature warmth and grace, Melinda candidly shares stories of times when she was in need of wisdom and shines a path through the open space stretching out before us all.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.

©2025 Melinda French Gates (P)2025 Macmillan Audio

The next day

It is a beautiful book. Full of advices for life that I will go back to listen again from time to time. I wish I have friends like her.
Thank you for sharing your story with the world and to be so honest and open.

Uplifting, wise, and relatable

Great storytelling, weaving quotes and people who inspire along with her own inspiring wisdom. May it be a shining light for fathers of daughters and friends and partners as greenhouses for each other.

Your Honesty and vulnerability

For some reason, I felt like this book had a message for me and I was really inpatient until it came out. Sure enough, it made me go back and reflect on my own life, prior marriage, the decisions I made, and the guilt I have been feeling.... then it gave me the relief that I have been waiting for I guess...that I made the right decision that I listened to the whisper. Thank you, also for magnifying the whisper that I am currently trying to ignore❤️

Beautiful Storytelling

Love how Melinda French Gates told the stories from her life not in chronological time. Beautiful lessons shared.

being kind to one's self.

Life is always learning and being able to enjoy the results + or - and sharing with others.

Very relevant and relatable

I was apprehensive about this book as I believed the privilege of the author would not resonate with me but she set my mind at ease right at the start by acknowledging that privilege. The book, the poems mentioned, the examples of resilience were touching. As a 60-year old myself engaged in philanthropy for a living (as a grant professional), having gone through many transitions, it was touching, meaningful and Ms French Gates is to be admired for her courage.

amputation’s are sometimes necessary, i say.

melinda says when we someone we love dies, it can feel like an amputation.
thats true, and the metaphor works for divorcing someone you love!! She had to remove Bill from her life so she could thrive…that “amputation” was necessary …but painful, scary and she may sense the missing part for a while, but ultimately, cutting off that marriage was necessary for her.

beautiful, just beautiful.

a must-read for anyone in the midst of transition, which is all of us.

The transitions in our life are the spring boards of creating the life we choose.

All of it! A beginning - a moment in the middle - you never know what will become your life.

Powerfully written biography

Melinda is a down to earth powerful woman who opens up so we all can see that transitions are a part of life and part of our personal growth.