Transitions

"Change is situational. Transition, on the other hand, is psychological. It is not those events, but rather the inner reorientation or self-redefinition that you have to go through in order to incorporate any of those changes into your life. Without a transition, a change is just a rearrangement of the furniture. Unless transition happens, the change won’t work, because it doesn’t take."      -William Bridges

Life if full of expected and unexpected transitions. Some transitions happen without even sensing progressive change as the shift is gradual. The little blue eggs that were in our bird houses just a few weeks ago have hatched, the fledglings have grown and the nest is empty. Somehow my children have gone from newborns to toddlers to preschoolers and are now into double digits! I can see the changes throughtout the years as I look through old photo albums, but the transitions through these stages were subtle with each passing day.

Some transitions are more sudden. Transitions have been tricky for me over the past five or six years. Transitioning into a life marked by childhood cancer was one I resisted, but one from which I've learned so many lessons. During this diffifult time, I considered myself a writer; someone taking absolute pleasure in the quiet moments, reflecting on my life, exploring curiousities to answer to questions that burned in my mind. A place to face the things I was afraid of. A place to bring to life things I love. A place to find comfort in distractractions. Emersing myself in research and then imagining a way to extend the story. A creative outlet for me to express myself using my fascination with words - both their meaning and the way they sound together lyrically. This solitary state is a safe place where I write for myself.

The transition to becoming an author happened overnight. One day I was a writer, the next a published author. Becoming an author changed this solitarty mindset and although I feel, in a sense, vulnerable, I feel this is a very positive transition. This is especially true when someone reads 'Saltwater Joys' and shares how it's moved them, inspired them, intrigued them and thrilled them. It has helped me embrace the transition of becoming an author and has catapulted me into my next writing project. I've realized you never truly change until you embrace the transitions in life.

"Any transition serious enough to alter your definition of self will require not just small adjustments in your way of living and thinking but a full-on metamorphosis."    

-Martha Beck