As a much-needed adventure, I decided that it was time to play tourist and go back home to Boston to see the sites, take a “Duck Tour” (actually ride a vehicle that tours through Boston downtown streets showing major historical points of interest which then goes in the water and glides up the Charles River.) I then took an excursion through the New England Aquarium. It was such a joy being home since I grew up there and yet, in some ways, I was an outsider. I had my own stories of being in high school and having Sunday date nights of walking to the Boston Commons to get an ice cream, Swan Boat rides, working in Jordan Marsh after school in my senior year of high school, trips to Fenway Park with my dad from 6 years old on to see our beloved Red Sox and so many more memories.
It was all surreal because all those experiences were a part of me and yet not one do I even think about except in situations like this. I felt so alive and excited being there, like a kid at Christmas. I was home, yet simultaneously I was looking at everything with very different eyes. Have you had the same surreal experience? Going back to old familiar places and they fit yet not…
It caused me to think about all the transitions, the steps in growing up that I have undergone, the major, exciting, and often difficult, transformations that come with answering the call to grow. It doesn’t matter if those transitions come about because of a conscious choice you make to grow, and to try new adventures, or new experiences, or if they are put onto your path by someone else’s decisions that required you to take a deep breath and grow as a result.
Transitions have a tendency to cause fear of the unknown, fear of letting go of a known way of being, as well generating extensive fear of the possible impact they could have in the many circles throughout your life. What happens to you when you find yourself in transition? For me, at times, I can feel the inevitability, the restlessness, the calling to move forward knowing I need to, yet simultaneously I may also feel the reluctance, the hesitancy of all the “work” involved, the changes, the explanations, especially when I don’t fully understand it myself. It can make it all seem like too much. Logic doesn’t apply nor does real pragmatism only an inevitability that seems to have a mind of its own.
If you get stuck in the fear, in the need to know everything, especially the full end-result before you even begin, you may never get there. Take the leap, do some research, find a coach if needed or wanted, and recognize that no dream calls you that you cannot achieve. Fear of the task, of change, of not being ready, or not knowing enough, are all stories we make up to give ourselves permission to stay stuck. Learn what you need to… We are truly amazing creatures.
Know transitions are gifts that call us to the next stage, a child leaving for college, a job change, expanding or closing your business, or even leaving a relationship, are all gifts calling us to become more of who we are meant to be. Amazingly, after we adjust to the new us and the new situation, we frequently wonder why we were scared and what took us so long. I know I certainly have.
If you need help or support in your next transition, call me. I’m here and well versed: orphanage, adoption, entering the convent, becoming an international airline stewardess, moving to NYC, marriage/divorce, single mom, graduate school, new business, three more new businesses, empty nest, moving to the Caribbean for 10 years, closing 3 businesses, buying three houses over the years, you could say I’ve had some experience and I’d love to share what I have learned about the overwhelm, grief, fear, and loss as well as the joy, passion, and adventure.
Call now, I have a program starting to do just that.
