What is the Transition Phase and What Does it Mean for Personal Transformation?
Transforming your life is a beautiful and motivational goal to strive towards. You can be compared to The Alchemist, alchemizing your essence from base metal to gold. But what happens when you find yourself in the transition phase and all of a sudden it’s not all fun and games?
Change may stir up feelings of fear and anxiety that can act as a literal spanner in the works. Experiencing fear, anxiety, and overwhelm during the transition phase is not only common but extremely natural, so try to relax, nothing is under control!
Understanding Your Feelings When Experiencing Change
The pathway to success is long and winding. Being patient with your fears is the most compassionate thing you can do for yourself as you navigate changes. By being self-aware, you can process your resistance to change by embracing your feelings.
Anxiety is a psychological, physiological, and behavioral state induced in animals and humans by a threat to well-being or survival, either actual or potential. It is characterized by increased arousal, expectancy, autonomic and neuroendocrine activation, and specific behavior patterns. The function of these changes is to facilitate coping with an adverse or unexpected situation. Pathological anxiety interferes with the ability to cope successfully with life challenges.
National Library of Medicine
Change can take you out of your comfort zone, triggering the fight or flight response. This is the moment where you have to lean into the archetype of the mother and soothe yourself. For more on the importance of self-worth during these times, read How Can Self-Worth be Improved Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Navigating the Transition Phase of Personal Transformation: How to Embrace Change and Come Out Ahead
Imagine yourself as a child. Your resistance to change is a direct link back to your inner child. What is the one need that every child craves? It’s security, and essentially you are pulling the proverbial secure rug right from beneath your inner child’s feet, you big meanie!
Don’t identify with triggering emotions no matter how strong they may feel. Think of yourself as the mother to a scared child. What would you say to soothe a child who is scared? What would you do? You might consider taking a break, for instance, if the feeling of anxiety and fear becomes too much.
How to Take Action and Move Forward During Transitions
Contrary to popular opinion, sometimes the way forward is to take a step back. Take action by taking no action and wait for your inner storms to calm down before moving forward. Other times, you may decide that charging full steam ahead is the best course of action.
It really comes down to what resonates in the moment. Make decisions that align with your inner wisdom. If you’re struggling with taking action due to fear, my article Plant Medicine: A Powerful Ally in Shadow Work can provide valuable insights.
By imagining yourself as a child, you are in a strong position to navigate these choppy waters because all you have to do is embody the spirit of your inner child. By doing so, you will know what to say or do to motivate and coach her out of her fear.
Stress management involves using various techniques and coping strategies to improve the way you react to stressful things in your life and build resilience. But it’s not one-size-fits-all. That’s why it’s important to experiment and find out what works best for you. Whether you’re looking to reduce your overall stress levels, avoid unnecessary stressors in your life, or deal with stress in the moment, the following stress management techniques and strategies can help.
HelpGuide.org
4 Tips for Successfully Navigating Transitions and the Transition Phase
Embrace the Mess: Imagine yourself as your childlike self and all of the fears or limiting beliefs that she accumulated as she was growing. You have a unique opportunity to coach, educate, and guide her in ways that she did not receive from her original guardians.
Use Emotional Intelligence: Emotional intelligence will play a major factor in the transition phase. As corny as it may sound, keeping a journal is a great way to look at your emotions from an objective standpoint. Journaling acts as a type of roadmap, keeping you informed about where you are going. Understanding how emotional intelligence shapes your growth can be insightful, as discussed in my article How Emotional Intelligence Can Shape Your Personal and Professional Growth.
Seek Support: Talking to others will help you gain clarity and get the support you need to work through some of your triggers. The only caveat is to be selective about the quality of support you lean on. You are in the delicate stages of transition and like a growing plant, you will need to be deliberate about the environment and conditions in which you are exposed to – in other words, no negative nellies! For more on maintaining healthy relationships during these times, read Is Neediness Sabotaging Your Relationships?
Change the Subject: If you find your transformation gives rise to resistance resulting in stressful emotions like anxiety, it’s time to pivot! Change the subject, do something completely different. Go for a walk, do another task, just make sure you come back to it after the resistance subsides.
Using Self-Care Practices During Times of Change & Transition
We are women, and as such, we are unique mystical beings! There’s a cyclical nature that we have been denied by trying to conform to a system built around masculine energy. Take a break when you feel the urge to do so.
Rest, read a book, listen to music, dance, play if you must, just don’t feel guilty about doing so. Take the pressure off yourself during times of uncertainty by resting in your femininity. Self-care is an essential tool in your personal transformation arsenal. Carve out time for yourself if you find yourself experiencing burnout.
Too often, women find that they have built their lives around others, caring for their partners, children, community, and loved ones, putting themselves at the bottom of this list, and then becoming bitter or resentful when they feel empty.
It’s your responsibility to look after yourself by making yourself a priority and doing the things that make you feel taken care of. After all, are you not somebody’s daughter too? For more on honoring your cyclical nature, read my article on Moontimes & the Unique Seasons of Woman’s Cyclical Nature.
Additional Tips for Navigating the Transition Phase
- Believe in Yourself: Having a healthy confidence in yourself will make navigating the transition phase much easier.
- Avoid Comparisons: Don’t compare where you are on your journey to others. Comparison is the thief of joy. Research has found that when we compare ourselves to others who appear to be doing better, it can be damaging to our self-image.
- Embrace the Adventure: Always remember, success is born in the transition phase. Stop to smell the roses and have fun; you have embarked upon an adventure.
- Manage Anxiety with Emotional Intelligence: Emotional intelligence will be required to manage your anxiety and fears.
- Be Patient with Change: Change happens in increments, so be patient.
- Vision and Goals: Have a strong vision of the person you want to become. Write down your goals—seeing is believing and also motivating!
- Regular Progress Checks: Conduct regular progress checks.
- Celebrate Small Wins: High five your damn self!
- Transform Criticism: Make that little critical hater in your head your best friend—before you know it, it’ll be on the sidelines of your consciousness cheering you on!
- Practice Intentional Breathing: Breathe intentionally. Pause and take a breath.
- Develop Stamina and Grit: Have stamina. Know that you know the destination but not the roads, so you’ll need to have grit. Buckle up and get comfortable in the transition phase.
Conclusion: Learning to Embrace the Transition Phase—The Key
Fear is a natural response to change, and if your goal is significant, you should feel terrified. Learning to embrace the transition phase will make your personal transformation so much sweeter. There’s a theme that has been weaving its way through the body of this article and that is surrender. There is wisdom in surrender, and its wisdom is often overlooked in favor of action.
There’s something to be said for the countless stories we hear about things working out for people just before they gave up. It’s not necessary to get to this point. By practicing small daily surrenders, you are now aligning yourself with its mystical nature. By embracing the transition phase, you turn it into a fruitful and interesting adventure. Don’t allow yourself to be intimidated by its scary veneer.
Comment below and let us know what tips you find useful during your personal transformation journey.
For more insights on personal growth and navigating transitions, check out my related articles:
- How Can Self-Worth be Improved Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?
- Is Neediness Sabotaging Your Relationships? Find Out Now!
- How Emotional Intelligence Can Shape Your Personal and Professional Growth
20
20
20
24
