I was recently made aware again of the brevity of life by the death that impacted someone close to me. As I offered my condolences, we discussed how as a society we are obsessed with youth and that we rarely if ever talk about death and our own death especially. As we talked I spoke about the word “Transition” and how when we encounter transition we always see it as a challenge, a problem, a hurdle if you will. We rarely see any transition as a natural part of the evolution of our own lives. Think about this for a moment. You have probably already been through many transitions in your own life.
You transitioned from the womb into the light of your own life with your first breath
You were in diapers and laying flat on your back and now you go to the bathroom all by yourself and walk
Elementary school gave way to middle school and that transitioned to High School and you exited into the big wide world
You didn’t know how to drive and then you learned and then you learned what happens when you don’t pay attention while driving
You once has a gorgeous tight body and through the years you have let things go and now look what you have
So you see we are all in a state of transition every moment of our lives.
Here are the “Seasons” of Life from my new book EVE Reclaim Your Power:
In the SPRING SEASON of your life you:
Young Single Adult
Married Young Adult
Divorced Young Adult
Just reading this brings up some dismay in some of you, I’m sure.
In the SUMMER SEASON of our life you:
Married Adult with children
Married Adult without children
Single Adult Parent with children
Single Adult Parent without children
I can hear you now…..each of these listings are very specific in their challenges and their transitional periods.
In the FALL SEASON of our lives we:
Married Adult – Empty Nester w/older adult children
Divorce Adult – Empty Nester w/older adult children
Single Adult
Married Adult with grandchildren
Single/divorced with grandchildren
Each of these is indeed a time when we feel like our lives have ended for sure if we have lived in the definition of what it means to be a “Mother” or to be a “Grandmother”.
In the WINTER SEASON of our lives we:
Married Senior who is retired.
Divorced Senior who is retired.
Single Senior who is retired.
Widow/Widower
Another season with the harsh truth of reality that we all end our working careers and face the death of friends, siblings, partners and our own mortality.
Yet, we never seem to think about these “Transitional” periods in our lives until they are upon us. Yes, I know you have an IRA, but really have you mapped out how you are going to…….Yes,you may have savings to live off of when you reach that magic age, but have you run the numbers?…….
Knowing when these dates are for you is one way that you can plan for the time when that child will graduate and move away from home and suddenly in an instant your home feels big, empty and lonely. That same feeling grips us after divorce, a wedding, and a death. How many months or years do you have left to make an impact on your youngest child? How many months or years do you have left to build that retirement fund before you retire?
Transitions through the seasons of our lives are a natural part of living.
