TRANSITIONS
Shot for The Inner Citizen by Alexandre Souêtre
Sitting with William Bridges' Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes and keep finding things worth underlining.
He draws a distinction most of us miss: changes are driven by goals. Transitions begin with letting go of what no longer fits the life stage you're in. And whatever that thing is, he says, it's internal.
The full arc, in his words: "the difficult process of letting go of an old situation, suffering the confusing nowhere of in-betweenness, and launching forth again in a new situation."
He outlines four rules. The one that stopped me:
"First there is an ending, then a beginning, and an important empty or fallow time in between. But endings make us fearful. They break our connection with the setting in which we have come to know ourselves. Growing frightened, we are likely to try to abort the three-phase process. We might even twist this pattern around so that beginnings come first, then endings, and then... nothing."
The oscillation is familiar. Can one fight the letting go without knowing they're fighting it? Can the discomfort of the in-between be so unbearable that the beginning feels bigger than we think we can carry or deserve? There’s so much unknown in a beginning. The familiarity of staying the same feels safer than letting whatever it is, blossom into what's next.
A lot seems to come down to whether or not we trust ourselves. Whether we trust we will be ok no matter what happens.
Worth the read. Worth the sit.
Until next time.