Transition

Transition Definition: Noun, originates mid-16th century from French, or from Latin ‘transitio’, from transpire ‘go across’ means: “the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another”.

In this blog I am going to talk about the concept of Transition. At the start of my week I offer group work around bereavement to those aged 18+. The themes in the middle of my week are culture, emotional well-being, gender, identity and sexuality. The end of my week is groupwork around aging. This month, I had two enquiries one from a six-year-old and one from one hundred and six year old. This has demonstrated to me that with emotional support such as therapy or support from a group, if we are able to maintain good emotional resilience at every stage of life we may be able to make a smooth advance to the next stage of life.

As Julia Samuel wrote in her recent book, Grief Works (2018): “Our breath of life signals the success of birth, and it is our last breath that will signal our death”. Transition is the place between birth and death where we are playful, creative, expressive and living. We are only these things if we allow ourselves to be. Some of us always expose ourselves to risk in life, where we may just dive in to life and others of us need more support. Some of us may need to dip our toes in to the water to test the temperature first.

I am coming towards the end of a two-year Body Psychotherapy course. As a result, I have started to pay more attention to the body in my work with clients. I realise that how we feel in our body supports us in making a smooth transition to the next stage of life. As I start my research around how nutrition supports us in having good mental health, I have been able to see that it is not just how we feel but what we put into our bodies that will support us in making a choice to lead a long, happy and healthy life.

Life is full of transitions, flux and change. A long time ago some believed that the world was flat, and that once we reached the edge of the world, we would fall off. Pythagoras in the 6th Century BC and Parmenides in the 5th century in Greece stated that the Earth was spherical. In 2018, whatever you believe, it is safe to say that the world is having an experiential crisis. Therapy is where clients bring their experience of the world and may sometimes feel like they are falling off the edge of the world. Therapy allows us to explore what is going on in your world and enables us to cope better with life transitions.

When life transitions come perhaps we need to be our own best friend and find ways to nourish ourselves. Support systems are important in helping us to cope with transitions and learning who we are in relation to others. As the saying goes you can’t choose your family but you can choose your friends. The drama that comes with life at each of our life stages we can choose. Does one step into or step away from that drama?

With life transitions enjoy the journey not the destination, there is no need to rush them!