 To your second half transition
Transitions are processes, with new beginnings at the finish
He has half the deed done, who has/Made a beginning. Horace, Epistles
You will be familiar with the first two parts of transition, from earlier articles. Transitions first start with the ending. Endings involve you removing yourself from environments that have been familiar and sustained you. You may be familiar also, with an experience of loss during this ending. Transitions’ second part is the neutral zone. Working through this zone leads you to know and understand about the space between the past and what is to come in the future. You accept that this transition part may be painful and cause you to feel out of control.
Now to the third part – when you know that you have ended what was, that you have worked through the chaos of the neutral zone, and you are at the beginning of something new.
How do you get to the beginning?
Reflect on important beginnings that you have experienced in the past. You have been in transition since being made redundant.
You bumped into an old friend that you hadn’t seen for years and he told you about a ‘perfect job for you’, opening in his company, announced just that morning. You learned French rather than Spanish because that class was too early in the day for you – and you discovered your love of French painters.
The lesson here is that when you are ready to make a new beginning you will shortly find an opportunity. The opportunity may not be signalled so directly as those above. Rather you may have to recognise internal signals that prepare you for the possibility of a new beginning. The signal may be your recognising a piece of music, or perhaps the smell of baking that draws you to the opportunity.
For example, a client of mine, Anna, was a corporate trainer for many years. She had been in transition, wanting to end her career in large organisations. Working in the neutral zone while planning for something new, she found the new beginning trigger one morning on her daily walk. She saw disabled children in a playground, and knew that working with these children was her new career beginning.
What will it cost to make a new beginning?
A medical doctor in his 40s had wanted to be an orchestra percussionist but was dissuaded by his family in his early teens. Now he wanted to pursue this desire again, and let his imagination run with the possibilities of doing so. He enrolled in a summer music school, taking time off work. After a month he knew this is what he wanted. The change from medicine to music came with radical change. Change included down-sizing his house, income and lifestyle. Those who knew him said he couldn’t make the adjustment. He did, and reports that while he misses his previous life occasionally, he is the happiest he has been, ever.
New beginnings may be painful and require dramatic changes. Yet you know that the shifts you made in the past have made you the person you are now. Your new beginning leads you to a place of satisfaction and fulfilment – until the next transition…
How do you know that new beginnings are for you?
Everyone experiences new beginnings and everyone experiences trouble and strife that goes with new beginnings. Your response to change caused by tackling a transition may be fear. This fear arises from your expectation that change means loss to the comfort and satisfaction of the past. You may have trouble overcoming this fear and may seek professional advice for navigating the change. In the end, you let go of what you knew while mapping a new future that is still unknown and uncertain.
In making a new beginning you will learn that there is more than persevering. You will be making new paths for yourself, with people you know or new people as guides. Expect that new beginnings draw attention to your current relationships. This attention helps you identify the value and contribution important people have made in your life to date. Deal with these loved ones with openness and honesty.
Can you work through a transition and a new beginning on your own?
Are you ready to plan for getting started at the end of your transition? Is the prospect too hard or impossible to imagine being successful? What if help were available?
Contact us for a complimentary consultation to focus on your new beginnings. We work with you to discover what you want for your life. It will be the best 30 minutes you spend to get started on leading the lifestyle you want, as you transition.
References
Bridges, W 2004, Transitions: making sense of life’s changes, 2 nd edition, DaCapo Press, MA.
© 2009 Helene Strawbridge, All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Second Half Success material in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear. The attribution should read: By Helene Strawbridge of Second Half Success. Please visit Helene’s web site at www.secondhalfsuccess.com.au for additional articles and resources. (Make sure the link is live if placed in an newsletter or in a web site.)
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