Life Is Transitions
| June 7, 2016 |
As I watched the sunset at Mallory Square in Key West (“Where the sun sets and fun begins”) on Saturday night, I reflected on the current season of my life. I marveled as the sky transitioned from pale pink…
…to vibrant orange and purple.
Right before my eyes, the colors were changing. Yet, I couldn’t quite catch the magical transition. With the blink of an eye, a new color appeared. It was happening gradually, yet suddenly and, no matter how vigilant I was with my observations, I couldn’t slow down the moment. Before I knew it, the sun dipped behind the ocean, and darkness bestowed itself upon the Southernmost Point.
I thought about all the sunsets I’ve seen in South Florida – the vivacious pinks and oranges lighting the sky on my drives home from work or while sitting in a hammock overlooking the ocean. Jaw-dropping sunsets truly never cease to amaze me.
As I watched the sun dip into the ocean on this night in particular (after a night of camping and day of adventure – more on this later!), I realized life is like a sunset. Life is a constant transitionary period…
Individually, we experience a myriad of transitions throughout our lifetime. As we age, we transition in every aspect of our lives. We transition in friends: sometimes growing apart, and sometimes growing closer. We transition in school: from elementary to high school, and perhaps to college and graduate school. We transition in location: from childhood home to a location of our choosing.
But, perhaps most importantly, we transition within ourselves. We begin as innocent children – fearless in our daily pursuit of happiness. We then become adults with responsibilities, careers, and commitments. With a little luck and intention, we may still maintain a piece of the innocent fearlessness we embraced in our youth. Yet, we are different.
Often times the lines between our life transitions are blurred. When did we make a decision to create this shift? When did our path change? When did we become who we are NOW? When did we begin to feel the way we do? It may be (and often times is) unclear. We don’t notice as a friendship slips away and we don’t intentionally draw people closer to us. We constantly attract people and experiences based on the energy we put out. We ebb and flow with these natural life changes and adapt accordingly. When we surrender to these changes and transitions, we grow within ourselves.
Sometimes these invisible transitions can freak us out. One day, we wake up and realize: OH MY GOSH, WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?!? We start thinking about where time has went, and how we ended up right here, right now. It may freak us out, instilling a level of insecurity with the transient quality of all life’s entities. Nothing is permanent. Yet, isn’t that the beauty of it? We are constantly changing, adapting, and growing. We are in constant transition, which simultaneously weakens and strengthens us. We experience fear and anxiety in coexistence with excitement and anticipation.
In the current season of my life, I am transitioning from my life in South Florida (my residence for the past 13 months) to my next chapter of life. I’m not entirely certain what this chapter will behold, but it excites me to think of all the undetermined beauty ahead. I’ve been comfortable in my daily life in the sunshine, but feeling quite unsatisfied and unchallenged. I am ready for this transition. I feel pangs of inspiration (link) and pangs of fear, and am embracing both ends of the emotional spectrum. It’s okay.
Like the sunset, my life will be full of color, and I’m not afraid of the darkness that will eventually follow when my sun dips below the horizon. The rising sun and a new beginning will undoubtedly follow the intermittent darkness. Just as the sun rises and sets each day, we are constantly opening and closes chapters of our lives. We are changing, transitioning.
Let’s go with the flow of life. Embrace the transition, Fellow Dreamers.
With love and gratitude,
KConn
Wednesday, June 8, 2016 @ 6:26 AM
Your extended simile is beautiful. Transitions are georgeous like the sunset!
Although, I must argue that while we do move, grow, and change, many people stay the same. They continue to live in the same place, be friends with the same people, and work the same job for years on end. People also, at the core, usually remain the same individual with their core values.
Some transitions are also a choice rather than naturally happening to us. You can choose to keep some characteristics of yourself while intentionally try to get rid of others. Just like a person can live their whole life in one town or move to a new location and start over.
So while I agree that transitions can be sudden (and uncontrollable) where you ask yourself, “How did I get here?”, others are gradual and you can see (and change) the beginning, middle, and end.
Thursday, June 9, 2016 @ 10:29 AM
Chimchimbubblechunks,
THANK YOU so much for your thoughts. You’re absolutely right. We often times initiate transitions in our lives – whether it be by NEED or DESIRE.
Yes, some people do not change. Some people also do not feel they CAN change, perhaps. They feel “stuck.” Or, perhaps they do not WANT to change because they’ve reached a level of deep satisfaction – they’re fulfilled. They don’t require change and challenges, they’re completely complacent with where they are. And this is a beautiful thing, but not everyone can reach this level of satisfaction, and unfortunately some people do not WANT to change because they’re FEARFUL. They don’t have the courage to reach a new potential by being outside their comfort zones.
I absolutely agree we have power over the transitions in our life, and I really appreciate your perspective 🙂