I’m in that awkward space. The in-between-time, when one chapter of life has ended and the next one hasn’t fully begun yet.
I’ve left behind familiarity and entered into the unknown.
Transitioning from what I once was into what I’m now becoming… And can I tell you it feels messy.
I know it though, I’ve been through transition before.
Those awkward years after leaving high school, transitioning from carefree teen to responsible adult.
The fumbling around as I attempted a brief stint at uni, muddled through too many part-time jobs, before settling into full-time work and finally gaining my financial independence.
After that came the desire for success and the decision to leave behind the security of my role to carve out a career in a new industry. Transitioning once again. Worker to Career Woman.
I grew within this space for more than a decade, identified with it. But the rumblings of motherhood were stirring and transition was upon me again. Career Woman to Mum. By far my most challenging transition to date.
There’s a space we enter once we decide to let go of the old. An uncertain, undefined space filled with the unknown.
Once deep in transition there’s an overwhelming desire to retreat, to hibernate, to protect yourself.
You may crave privacy and feel desperately alone as you do.
There’s a swirling of emotion you can’t put into words, as you clamber your way toward new shores.
There’ll be temptation too. A desire to run back, return to where you were, to what you knew, to the familiarity.
But you left that job, that city, that home, that relationship for a reason.
You’re evolving and transition is the price of admission to the next stage of a more meaningful life.
So what helps us in transition?
Recognise it for what it is. Know it’s normal, temporary and happens to us all
Offer self compassion. Be kind to yourself with your words.
Rest and recover, a fatigued body, mind and soul fractures easily. Honour your needs.
Practice patience, there’s no timeline for transition.
Create a routine with anchor points to offer moments of certainty. A yoga class to begin each week, a weekly call with a friend, a morning or evening ritual that grounds you.
Release all that no longer fits or serves your journey forward. Grieve where needed and let it go.
Face forward. Lean into the vision for what’s next. And I don’t mean the fully articulated plan or the diarised to do list.
During transition there will be gaps, unknowns and things to work out still. That’s what transition is, the period of messy uncertainty.
Instead focus on what you do know. Lean in to what you already have.
Play with what’s emerging. Enquire into the feelings you desire, the whispers you hear and the ideas you toy with.
Capture them all. Write them down as they are the precious puzzle pieces that will give clarity to your future vision.
This is the process of transition. The clumsy art of discovery to reveal your path forward and the emergence of your next life stage.
Embrace it knowing your evolving and life’s becoming so much more.
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