Smart-Aleck advice on life transitions don’t cut the mustard

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"Pump House", Vaal River, Parys, by Chesney Bradshaw
“Pump House”, Vaal River, Parys, by Chesney Bradshaw

Transitions can be an opportunity in self-discovery. But they can also be a nightmare for those who fear change, those who are stuck with super glue to the status quo.

I heard of someone who had been with an organisation for many years and because of bad management the unit where she worked was shut down. But this person, being the leader she is, decided that she would use the opportunity to make a career transition that would give her more personal growth. She is actually looking forward to her career transition.

On the other side of the spectrum is someone who I knew who faced a career transition but so closely identified himself with what he did in his job that things went awry. I don’t know if he had thought about eventually making a change for himself but after being let go from an organisation he took to the bottle, made poor decisions in an often inebriated state and eventually suffered the consequence of losing everything. He died a lonely man in a small boarding house amidst strangers.

Transitions can be a “sea of pain” or a magical time of renewal and growth. It all depends on you. It’s really all up to you. A lots of Smart-Aleck advice tells you how to “manage transitions”. But it’s laughable whether transitions can be “managed”. Often they feel like a wild, untamed horse that tosses you about and eventually throws you to the ground where you have to do get up staggering, throw away all your preconceived ideas, and start to walk again.

Yet if you’ve been through any major transitions – life transitions, business transitions, lifestyle transitions, career transitions, relocation transitions, relationship transitions – then you will at least have some experience in knowing what it feels like. Some who have planned for their transitions still find it difficult when the actual reality hits them. Others may be so sick and tired of how they have lived and worked in the past that any chance to change is a breath of fresh air and ignites their latent passion and desire for what they truly want in life.

Whether you are a young entrepreneur transitioning from a small venture that has crashed and burned or whether you are making a major life change or even, and no one really likes to think of this, like Cervantes with “one foot already in the stirrup”, you will know how to handle your transition by listening closely to your heart, flow with the energy that comes with danger and change and cross the unknown sea as an adventure, exploring new personal worlds.

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