Are you going through a time of change in life just now and feeling a bit lost? (FREE gift here if you are embracing change and want some tips for life transitions, and you can stop reading now.)
Changes affect all of us at various stages of life. And how we approach them can determine not only what we are doing on the other side, but the person that we become. Are you embracing change? How do you go manage life transitions well?
We are 18 months into our new life season as empty nesters. You can read more on this here. This has been one of the biggest transitions we have ever gone through, and sometimes I simply wanted to say
STOP
Let me go back to how things were before, this is too hard, too much that is unsettling and new. I felt slammed about by all the emotions surfacing through the changes and all the new ways of living and managing family life and identity that came with it.
And it has been really good, I see that now. Being on the other side of transition can be a great place to be – to sit and look back and see what happened, what we learned, what we let go of, who we are now.
How to manage life transitions? Life coaching can help.
This was the experience of a recent client, who said this about her own life coaching:
Life coaching guided me through a time of transition into new and exciting territory that I hadn’t anticipated.”
How much fun does that sound?
Annabel came to me wanting to process a career change and to understand what it meant for her to do this well. She needed help to manage her life transition proactively and without fear.
She had all sorts of questions:
….What do I want and NOT want in this next season?
….How do I learn to say NO to all the potential Good Things To Do and requests for help that might come my way now I have more time?
….What does it mean for me to use my time well according to what is most important to me?
….What IS most important to me, and has that changed?
….What do I want to leave behind from the previous career and way of life?
….What do I want to take with me into this next season?
These are questions that you might relate to – get in touch here!
They are great questions, and over 5 sessions of life coaching spread across six months, we explored these and much more. We looked at what caused Annabel to overcommit herself and not use her time the way she wanted. This involved a fair bit of unpicking of mindsets and negative attitudes towards herself and her worth that were no longer serving her well.
She identified her people-pleasing and need-to-be-needed tendencies, and worked hard to re-establish her own unique identity. We explored her values and priorities, and looked at all that she had learned and become through all the experiences she had had in life thus far. Old internal scripts and negative self-talk were re-written and she grew confident in knowing how to make proactive decisions. She gained clarity in her own skill set, purpose and priorities in this next season.
She learns to say No with grace and clarity.
By the end of our time working together she sees that she is in a much better place. She has good new rhythms and habits in the areas of life that are most important to her that help her sustain the way that she wants to live. She is clear on where she wants to serve and what keeps her well, grounded and proactive in her approach.
New exciting opportunities open up that she can say YES to with boldness and confidence in all that she has to bring.
Did this involve work?
Yes.
A lot of wrestling, questioning, reflecting, exploring and curiosity. There was no judgement, just a safe place to look at all that was going on, lay it all out and see patterns and themes. That which was no longer serving her was let go of, and that which was important to build on was kept. Progress was not linear – it never is – and sometimes the process felt hard, like learning a new language.
Coaching provided the accountability, support and encouragement throughout, and a safe place to learn, challenge and reframe life.
Annabel of course is not a real client, she is a composite of the kinds of issues on which I regularly work with people. How to manage life transitions is a question that people come to me with often, and it is a real joy to work with individuals to empower them to regain a sense of WHO they are, WHAT is important to them, and HOW they want to live next.
Get in touch here if you would like to explore embracing change well for yourself.
Embracing change: tips for life transitions.
And get your free gift here if you are facing change, a toolkit that will help you work through change well and come out the other side stronger, more confident and more at peace. Simply click here for your free gift.