Thriving During Life Transitions: A Survivor’s Guide

From stay-at-home to working mom...hard-driving exec to retiree...starting over in a new school, home, career, family, or marital status—transitions can be challenging. Even if you see transitions coming, their impact can take you by surprise.

“I was in the classroom for 42 years,” says one recently retired teacher. “I had no idea it would be so hard to adjust to life without school in it.” Whatever life stage you’re in, you can expect a new one to come along soon. When it arrives, keep in mind... • It’s okay to be unsettled.

Transitions hit us hard because they rattle our sense of identity. We find we’re in unfamiliar territory, dealing with new expectations and new relationships. Expect to feel the effects as you slowly rebuild a new identity based on where you are now—not where you once were. • It’s time to lean into growth opportunities. Even if the transition feels like a failure—the loss of a job, for instance—look for what doors it may be opening for you.

What can you learn? What have you discovered about yourself or others? How can you lean into trusting God more completely? • Some things haven’t changed. Okay, you’ve shifted from active parent to empty-nester. You were part of a couple and now you’re not. You were a happy city-dweller and now the view from your window is open fields and large farm animals—maybe cows, maybe horses, you’re not sure.

But some things haven’t changed. You’re still a child of God, still loved and valued and still in a relationship with Jesus, and He’s bigger than any of your circumstances. You have His support—and, if you want it—you can have the support of a church family. During transitions we sometimes focus only on ourselves—our losses, our challenges, our journey. Doing so only prolongs our difficulties. Allow room for taking steps to find a support network through church... hobbies...volunteering...befriending others.

Make room for God to bring resources into your life that will ease the transition. Remember: You’ve survived other transitions in the past and you’ll certainly face them again in the future. What you’re experiencing now will, in time, become your new normal. And the God who’s the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow will be along for the ride.

Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (ESV)