By the way, what is a life transition? Because life is movement and because it is in the changes, the transformations, the passages, that it takes all its meaning, all its essence, I share with you some thoughts on life transitions.
In our time where the only thing that seems permanent is change, the word transition is everywhere: digital, demographic, ecological, energetic, social, democratic, gender, professional, ...
What these many uses of the word transition have in common is that they express the gradual passage from one state to another. Depending on the context: from one degree to another, from one tone to another, from one idea to another, from one job to another, from one situation to another. This notion of transition is in line with the etymology of the word transition: from the Latin transire which means "to go beyond".
If we refer to the thesaurus, we would simply answer: "A (life) transition is a (life) change".
In truth, it's a little more subtle than that.
The change in life is an event that we initiate or that is imposed on us: a move, a new job, a layoff, a burnout, the arrival of a child, the loss of a spouse, ... The change is external, concrete, visible.
Transition is the psychological process that each of us goes through to experience change.
Transition is internal, intimate. It is the hidden face of change: inner, a little mysterious, sometimes mythologized, often ignored, transition gives meaning to external change and allows us to integrate it emotionally and psychically.
William Bridges, a leading author on the subject, writes:
"Transition is a natural process of disorientation and reorientation
from one stage of life to the next".
Feeling destabilized, in doubt, lost or even totally "stuck" during a transition period is therefore normal. Moreover, in common language, certain transitions are reclassified as "crises" (mid-life crisis, mid-life crisis, etc.). That's how much we fear them...
However, by recognizing its existence, by accepting the necessity of this period of adaptation, by welcoming the "stops & goes" of this process, by paying particular attention to what we feel, it is possible to make a life transition an opportunity for re-evaluation and evolution. By learning to "pilot" one's transitions, changes - undertaken or undergone - become easier to integrate.
Want to see things more clearly and be better equipped to face the inevitable life transitions?
Join us in mid-March 2023 for a 3-day workshop!
Agnès Sroka
Midlife crisis, midlife crisis, does it speak to you? - No surprise.... A very recent study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridges, Ma, USA, among 500,000 people worldwide, showed that the "Midlife crisis" is now a more common reality than ever.
Life is a succession of transitions! Because life is movement and it is in the changes, the transformations, the passages, that it takes all its meaning, all its essence, I share with you some thoughts on life transitions.
On navigating our personal and professional transitions...
a 3-day retreat to give you the time and space to reflect, catch your breath, re-evaluate your priorities, set yourself in motion towards your future.