Honouring transitions
When I looked up the definition of ‘transition’ a few different meanings showed up.
The one that felt most accurate to me was Google’s. “Transition: The process or period of changing from one state or condition to another.”
This definition acknowledges that it’s a process, and that it’s not a momentary thing. Transition – whether that’s from one job to another, from being single to being married, from marriage to divorce, from country to country or from one gender to another – inevitably takes time.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could just blink like Jeannie the genie and find it all done and dusted?
But we can’t.
The caterpillar doesn’t just blink and become a butterfly. It has to build itself a cocoon, squish itself in there for a while, and literally change its shape completely. That can’t be comfortable.
We humans are more like caterpillars (and butterflies) than we know. The really, truly good stuff comes when we’re willing to walk through the fire of our discomfort.
So are you willing to walk through the fire?
Are you willing to get uncomfortable?
Sometimes we have no choice. Life decides for us. Sometimes we have a choice – and it’s so powerful when we actively choose to get uncomfortable and grow.
Sometimes that can mean making difficult decisions. We have to finally let go of behaviours, people, addictions, substances, and so on that we’ve been holding onto.
Sometimes those things have hurt us, but we’ve held on all the same because they’re familiar and comfortable.
It can feel incredibly sad and painful to let them go. But when we do, we emerge lighter and brighter than before. We open ourselves up to new solutions and to new successes.
On the other side of the cocoon, the butterfly emerges. Image by Alfred Schrock on Unsplash.
Sometimes, then, the only solution is to make a clean cut with the past. When we do this, we free up headspace for new things. There’s suddenly much more room for what we really want in our lives, and it’s easy to build the momentum to make it possible. The transition process gets a LOT easier.
So, where in your life can you make a clean cut? Are there old patterns, old addictions, that you've been holding onto?
I find it helps to get really honest with myself about why I do this thing, why I consume this thing. Is it because it feels socially acceptable? Is it because I feel scared of being rejected?
Once you get honest with yourself – and possibly articulate it out loud to someone else – that thing doesn’t hold quite the same power. It becomes a lot easier to let it go.
As we come into the energies of the March Equinox, it’s a fitting time to let go of things. You can honour the past, and be grateful for all that it brought you – whether that was good friends, good times, or just lessons, no matter how painful. But you can still let it go.
To letting go, then. And to stepping willingly into the fire of our becoming.
Love,
Tamsin xx
3 takeaways from this post:
1. The March Equinox is a time to let go of the past and make a clean break.
2. Transitions take time and they’re not going to be comfortable. But if we make a clean break, the transition process can move a lot more quickly.
3. It can help to ask why you have continued to behave in a certain way, consume a certain substance or kept up a relationship that didn’t serve you. When we see the reality of our addictions, patterns and behaviours, they cease to have power over us.
Are you looking for someone to help you navigate transition? Drop me a line if you’d like support, or book a session here.