Celebrate Transitions!
I’ve been thinking a lot about transitions lately. We watched our daughter graduate from college recently. It was an unusual graduation in that we sat together in our small Boston hotel room to watch a virtual ceremony. It was a hot muggy day and we decided we actually really enjoyed the air conditioning and sipping champagne versus sitting and sweating in the heat. This not-normal graduation ceremony evoked so many emotions for me. I was unprepared for the depth and strength of those feelings. While I was happy for and proud of our daughter, I began to feel a bit untethered. I also sensed that my daughter’s joy at graduating was wrapped in uncertainty and nervousness.
As we drove her back to her last night in her apartment, I realized that we all were in a transition. Our daughter was stepping out of the role of student and into the role of a job-hunting graduate. My husband and I no longer were parents of an undergraduate student! (a huge YES to no tuition payments). And our son turned 25! I remember when I turned 25. I thought my parents were old. (For the record my Mom was 2 years younger than I am now when I had this milestone birthday.)
I was a bit confused by how I was feeling. And being a semi-reformed world class worrier, I started to become real anxious about these transitions we all were moving through. I decided that I needed to stop my spin into anxiety (that’s how I picture it) before it sucked me down. Here’s what I did.
- I reframed the transition. Instead of worrying, I decided to…
- Celebrate! I concentrated on the wonderful events and opportunities that we’ve experienced and have yet to experience.
- Put my faith in the Universe (or God) that we will receive love and abundance.
And this isn’t a one and done exercise for myself. At times it is a daily practice. Whether I’m in the pool, in the car or at my kitchen table, I repeat these three steps. Try to really celebrate a transition, no matter how big or small! Because celebrating is so much better than worrying.