Transitions: 3 Strategies to Make Transitions Smoother and Easier

Are you on the threshold of a transition in your life somewhere? As we move from where we are to where we want to go, we go through different kinds of transitions and changes along the way. Perhaps you’re leaving an old job to start your own business. Or the nest is emptying as your children start independent lives outside the family home. Anyone who has experienced the end of a love relationship, knows that transition state of from being part of a couple to being a single person.

Transitions are a tough stage for most people. Whether by choice or by circumstance, transitions thrust us out of our comfort zone into the unknown and that feels really uncomfortable. It takes courage and commitment to keep moving ahead. Our fears and self-doubts kick into overdrive. Transition and change are inevitable realities, yet I believe there are strategies we can use so we can navigate these important choice points with more grace, confidence and ease.

Here are 3 strategies to use when you find yourself in a place of life transition.

1. Remember There Is A Greater Purpose

A great role model in nature of the power and beauty of transition is the butterfly. As Buckminster Fuller said “There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.” Times of transitions can be mysterious, but they are important times when we can learn… to truly understand ourselves and our purpose at a deeper level. When the caterpillar creates its cocoon, it is a time of tremendous transformation. There is a dying of one way of life (the caterpillar) that gives birth to a new way of life (the butterfly). Have faith that this experience has been created to help spur you along your path of growing and evolving as a conscious, caring human being.

2. You Have Everything You Need

Moving through a transition with ease and confidence can be hard because we often feel so unprepared. We’re not sure how to get back in the dating scene, or start the new website, or how find the best long-term care facility for an aging relative. I recommend you build your confidence by doing an inventory of what skills, wisdom and resources you already DO have on hand that can help you through your transition. Look at all the life experience you have to date and I’m sure you’ll find increasingly good judgment, the ability to ask important questions, people in your life you can call upon for guidance and much more.

Harvesting and articulating the wisdom and talents you already have developed is a great way to calm your mind chatter and help you feel more grounded and certain.

3. Practice Patience

One of the greatest sources of difficulty I’ve seen my clients have in coping with life transitions is impatience. We’ve become a society that wants instant gratification and often settles for the promise of a quick fix. The ego-mind wants the uncertainty and fear to be over and done with, and creates judgments about whether we “should be over this by now” or not.

But the Universe isn’t playing a game of “Beat the Clock” with us when these times of transition happen. It’s not like poking a cocoon with a stick makes the butterfly emerge more quickly. In fact, part of the strength of the butterfly’s wings comes from its struggle to free itself from the cocoon. So to make your journey through transition smoother, cultivate patience and compassion for yourself.