I would submit that we go through many different stages, seasons in our lives. The smoothness of moving from one to the next rests on our attitude toward and preparation for transitions. And reading the ‘signs’ is the first step in transitioning. Attempting to ‘hold on’ when a season is over is never a healthy sign. You will only be making bad memories and missing the excitement of what is coming.
I’ve discovered that the new never begins, though it does give us warnings, until the old is finished. The issue is whether or not we accept the end and begin the movement into the new. If something is over then holding on only creates other problems and ends up making what was into something considerably less. Life consists of so much more that simply savoring the good in the moment. Savoring is fine … for its season and then it’s time to discover the next season.
Transitions are never wrenching unless the hold on yesterday is a stranglehold and your fingers have to be pried one by one. Transitions are meant to be bridges from what was into what is coming. They are precursors and they provide time to prepare for the next step. It rarely is the intellect that is holding you back but your emotions will. Emotions know the familiar so they typically want to stay in the comfortable, even when the ‘comfortable’ really is a mirage.
If you don’t utilize the time available in the transition then you find yourself hurled into the next season. The problem with being hurled is that you can just as easily end up flat on your face as you can land on your feet. Regardless, you begin the new season startled… and that’s no way to begin something new. We are constantly having to change and move into the unknown. How we face this, what we do in this time is our transition. Smooth? Hurled?
