Year-end goals: Transitions

In this blog post, you will:

• Discover how transitioning well can improve your overall wellbeing.

• Learn two tips to intentionally practice transitions.

Many of us are entering into a time of finalizing projects, attending year-end functions, and starting to look forward to much needed rest after a busy year. Because of this, we will be looking at tips and ideas that will assist you in finishing well but also entering the transition season before a new year starts. For many people the end of the year is a bittersweet season of mixed emotions and tired bodies. People are generally more irritable and more negative, blaming it on the long year and built-up stress.

On the other hand, people are excited about the so-called holiday season, catching up on rest and preparing for the new year quickly approaching. The last couple of years I have however, started to observe that many companies do not slowdown anymore, pushing production up to Christmas time. The result is that people do not have a natural cycle of transition, reflection and recuperation before the new year starts. In this series we will investigate ways to intentionally incorporate this cycle back into our lives to set ourselves up for success and a happy new year.

In this blog post we will start by looking at ways to create transitions in our lives to give greater closure to events, projects, and seasons. A transition is the end and beginning moments in life that we all experience every day. To some extent we go through transitions naturally. The pace and demand of life, however, is encroaching on our ability to transition well. The seasons of the year are an example of natural transitions that help us to move from one to the next.

Be mindful of the tension in transitions:

Transitions create tensions in our lives between the old and the new. There is nothing wrong with these tensions, they are in fact quite normal. Talking about the big game for days after the event is an example of tension in a transition. We want to stay in the place of victory or defeat for a while longer because we need to process what happened and find resolution for our emotions and actions during events. When we are aware of the tension, we can use it to our advantage by asking three questions:

· What was significant to me about what happened?

· Where do I fit into the whole?

· What will I take with me?

Create Rituals:

Evan Imber-Black, in their research paper "Creating meaningful rituals for new life cycle transitions" found that rituals help us to transition well in life. Imber-Black writes that a marriage ceremony signifies the change of roles in relationships which gives people a tangible transition through the ritual.

We can use micro rituals in our lives and work to assist us in marking the end and beginning of projects, days, and weeks.

One example of such a ritual is a gratitude jar which you fill with strips of paper throughout the year with something that you are grateful for. Close to the end of the year you take the jar and read through all the times you were grateful. Another ritual that I like is asking the questions where did I win today/this week, and where did I experience Jesus today/this week, and what do I look forward to in this coming week?

The power of transitions lies in our intentionality to create them when they are not naturally there. They play such an important role in our lives: ending one season and starting a new one. Without them, we sometimes resign ourselves to a loop of unresolved emotions, memories haunting us and stealing our joy.

We can, however, rise out of these loops by intentionally being mindful of the tension of transitions and create healthy rituals to help us process what was in order to step into what is.

Coach U

In this week I want to challenge you to consider transitions in your life and work. Take one of the questions that I mentioned above and practice it daily until it becomes part of your routine. Secondly, share your experience with others. Sharing is part of transitioning well and will set you up for success.

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© 2023 Ivan Venter, All Rights Reserved.

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