"When you're finished changing, you're finished." - Benjamin Franklin
Change is the only constant.
When we think about this, we might feel rattled. As human beings, we tend to prefer things to stay as they are. What is familiar and what we know feels safe and we are drawn to it. It is a safety mechanism that is hard-wired in us. Unfortunately, life does not comply to this preference.
Some of the most common changes we experience through life are moving house/town, changing jobs, starting a new career, starting or ending a relationship, loosing people dear to us. Even as we may choose some of those changes, their unfolding and the fact that the landscape of our life is temporarily unfamiliar can be a very unsettling experience.
Life also requires us to move through universal stages that we may not yet be fully ready to face, and where we feel we loose our sense of self as we know it: Puberty, going from high school to college, starting work, marriage, becoming a parent, retiring, contracting an illness, seeing close friends die, etc... We are challenged in ways that we may not be prepared for and that can be uncomfortable, even distressing.
Knowing that those transitions are a normal part of life does not always make them easy to navigate or to accept. As certainty fades away, you may become anxious and fearful. Your resistance and fears can make you feel ashamed, thinking that you should be more resilient and brave. Faced with the numerous demands of life, you may argue that you have no time to acknowledge the deep change and the sense of something slipping away from you. You might spend days trying to push through the discomfort, resentment, fear and loss, only to lay awake in the middle of the night finally unable to escape your thoughts and feelings. You need to accept and adapt in order for life to resume some stability, but you may feel very little equipped to move forward in your new circumstances and make meaning of them in a positive way.
Having undergone several deep changes and life transitions myself, I understand the natural pain, anger and resistance that we can feel about change, as well as the freedom and peace that comes from acceptance. I offer an empathetic and non-judgmental space where you can safely articulate all your thoughts and feelings. I can help you move towards more acceptance of your new circumstances and develop strategies to manage life differently. I believe that ultimately, we can find peace and happiness in any circumstances with good support and the willingness to grow and learn from what life presents to us.
