Every October, here in Portugal, I find myself missing my previous city of Seattle and specifically the palpable shift in the air there this time of year to crisp, cool and dewy. For so many years this air was both an announcement that summer was over and an invitation that it was time to start leaning into a new rhythm.
Though the air feels a little different in my current corner of the world, Fall is still amongst us and it remains the season that to me most signals transition - the topic most present in my coaching work.
Summer is complete, Winter is coming and for now we are “in-between” these two contrasting places.
People most commonly work with me because they are experiencing “in-between”. That’s to say something in their life is ending and they are on their way to a new beginning. Sometimes the ending is clear, with little sense of what is to come or how to get there and sometimes the beginning is known and exciting and the ending (or loss of what was) sneaks up on a person.
Either way, being with people in transition is about navigating that space between ending and beginning. The “in-between” experience is different for everyone, but I’ve noticed that it often requires:
Letting go
Being still
Remembering who you are
Making a claim about who you want to become/are becoming
Grieving
Celebrating
Often it’s not just one of these things needed but a combo of a few of them.
Finding your mix, requires slowing down and allowing yourself to be in a season of transition for as little or as long as you need so that you move into what’s next with grace, purpose, courage and a deeper sense of who you are.
It’s tempting to speed thru seasons of transition, you may feel a strong urge to skip or ignore them entirely (that was certainly my habit for a long time!) But we’re better off when we sit with and allow the complexity, growth and beauty of transition.
Fear not: It’s part of the natural process of life. And if we let it, Fall can remind us of transition’s normality and that when we find ourselves amidst it we can be assured that it's part of the journey of our becoming.