Transition

Have you noticed that most people, when you ask them what they are doing currently, will say “Well, I’m in transition…” Love that word. It brings up all sorts of questions and remembrances of your own experiences. It’s always about being “in between”, having left one shore and being in transit between there and somewhere else. Or between where you were and who-knows-where.

One thing’s for certain, life is full of transitions. In the world we live in, there are more and more of them, and they are more frequent than ever. Change can be good, it just isn’t always easy.

It all begins when we are born. We transition from infancy to toddler-hood, then childhood, then pre-adolscence, then adolescence, then young adulthood-middle age-old age and ripe old age. We transition from school to work, then from one job to another, sometimes completely changing careers along the way. We can move from one location to another, change socio-economic circumstances, go from good to great, from favor to disfavor, from unknown to known, from bad to worse, from unhealthy to health or vice versa, weak to strong, happy to unhappy, the list goes on and on. Relationships also transition from one season to another, sometimes continuing and deepening, sometimes parting ways. There are lots of relational transitions – child, parent, peer, boss, co-worker, single, married, widowed/widower, guardian, caregiver, dependent, independent, on and on. The deck of cards is shuffled and re-shuffled regularly in our lifetime.  Apparently, we must become very adept at navigating transition if we are to succeed in life.