Life is full of transitions! Going to college, starting a new job, moving to a different city, getting married, retiring - the list goes on and on! These life transitions are often filled with complex, contradictory emotions. You may experience excitement, relief, sadness, anxiety, hopefulness, grief, or fear. While all these experiences are very normal (our minds don’t love going through changes), they can be very distressing and difficult to manage. 

These transitions can also make it challenging to find what makes you fulfilled and satisfied. You might feel as though you’re completely starting over - trying to find new friends, trying to figure out how to be a parent, trying to discover who you are outside of work. It’s all confusing and overwhelming! We often beat ourselves up during these transitions. Our minds say, “I should be able to handle this better,” or “People move all the time, this shouldn’t be so hard,” or even “I should be happy and grateful about this new job.” These thoughts are often our mind’s way to try to motivate us to doing better; however, they actual just add more stress and pressure.

I often work with people going through these difficult life transitions. I start with helping people understand their mind’s processes and the helpfulness of their responses. Then, we spend time building skills to manage the distress, and increase their abilities to be present. We also work towards adding in what’s important to them, increasing meaning and purpose to their lives. Throughout the process, we incorporate self-compassion and resiliency, helping our mind actually help us through the time of big changes.