Throughout your life, you’ll encounter many transitions such as going through childhood, becoming an adult, parenthood, and so forth. You may also experience transitions like buying a home, having an unfortunate accident, and changing jobs. Some transitions you can foresee and prepare for, while others are sudden and less predictable. Whatever transitions life brings, you can thrive through them all, if you know how.
Understand the Value of Now
You’ve heard that being mindful and present is essential. However, life sometimes distracts you from the here and now. Learn how to focus on what is happening in the moment. Smell the air, feel the sadness, experience the joy right now.
Focus on One Change at A Time
Instead of placing your focus in multiple places at once, set up your life so that you can schedule your activities in a way that enables you to truly concentrate on one thing at a time. Multitasking doesn’t work, not in reality and not in your mind, let it go.
I find that it’s very freeing to be single focused for periods of time and then shift my focus to a new activity. It helps my problem solving and creativity while energizing me. I use this energy to propel me through the change.
Find the Humor in Life
Sometimes it can be hard to see the humor in life unless you actively look for ironic humor. It is funny that two-year old’s have nuclear meltdowns, only when you’re not expecting them. Find the humor in even the most mundane or chaotic things to get through each day.
There are some things that I simply look at and think to myself, “This is awful now, but it’s going to make a great funny story later.” The thought shift is enough to motivate me to keep going.
Change Is A Normal Part of Life
When everything seems to be on track, you can bet there is a change in the routine on the way. The faster you can accept the change and shift gears, the sooner you’ll adapt to what’s happening around you and move on.
Know Who You Are and What You Value
Your personal morality and values are essential for you to know. When you have values that you can look to for answers it will help ensure that the decisions you make are right for you during your transition. Your values will help guide you through the change.
Make and Maintain Self Care Routines
When a big transition happens, either bad or good, double down on your self-care routines. Eat healthy, sleep enough, and stay positive to make good decisions based on reality and not just your emotions.
Build Your Social Community
People don’t thrive alone. You may be an introvert. You may not really like being around people most of the time. However, you need to connect with others. Build supportive relationships with like-minded individuals that you trust and can rely on.
I have a weekly video check-in with my trusted circle. We share the events of the past week and what we have in the upcoming week.
Seek Support from Your Connections
Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Your friends, family, workgroup, and other connections want you to succeed in life. They may not always know how to help you, but if you’ve chosen well, they will support you as needed. Thriving through difficult transitions is possible if you prepare for inevitable changes. You will get older. Your kids will grow up and leave home. Your parents will age and pass away, leaving you to take over where they left off. Take the good with the bad and show others how to thrive.
Take Charge
Start developing your plan for managing change. Jot down a few strategies in each of the categories listed above. Find out which ones work best for you. Remember, you may have to change your strategies to handle different types of change and transitions. Revise and revamp your list as you go. It’s there as a reminder for you, for those times when you get stuck and need a little nudge.
If you still feel stuck or if you find a great strategy that helps you excel, please reach out and share it with me. I’d love to hear from you.