Life Transitions Counseling
California, Texas, 41 PSYPACT States
Life Transitions Counseling: Growing Through Change
Introduction
A life transition refers to how we are coping with a period of change in our lives. For everyone, life is full of change, both positive and negative. Change is challenging because it demands things of us that we may not be used to, or, we may associate that experience with something bad that happened to us before (we call this trauma). Change often makes us let go of what is familiar and comfortable and can lead to a feeling of loss. Change can cause tremendous stress for us and our loved ones because we may not be equipped to navigate it in a confident or healthy way.
Some of the most common life transitions include:
Moving to a new home, town, or country
Changing jobs
Getting married or moving in with a partner
Retirement
A new medical diagnosis
Separation or divorce
Starting a caregiving role to a loved one
The loss of a loved one
Life transitions often leave us feeling overwhelmed, chaotic, and out-of-control. Life transitions often increase anxiety or pile on to the anxiety we’re already struggling with. Additionally, life transitions can increase risk for a depressive episode and leave a person feeling stuck in low mood and fatigue.
How Life Transitions Counseling Can Help You
When going through life transitions that are challenging, we often hear that old adage “It takes time.” This is true and yet, how long the adjustment period takes for each person can vary greatly. While we wait for the passing of time, we might be struggling to cope with day-to-day life and our mental health and relationships may suffer.
Development of Coping Skills and Routines
A fundamental aspect of getting through life transitions is by coping in helpful and healthy ways. This is often where therapy begins for individuals struggling through a life transition. Effective coping skills can vary from person to person. Some people find that a movement routine (e.g., walking, dancing) is helpful in getting through difficult emotions and moods, while others find that they get more out of journaling their feelings. It’s important that coping skills and routines be tailored to the individual’s interests and confidence level so that they’re realistic and sustainable. Developing a reliable set of activities and skills to relax, soothe oneself, and reduce negative emotions is a good starting point in therapy.
A Deeper Understanding of What’s Being Triggered
After developing helpful coping skills and routines, there is usually deeper work to be done around a life transition. For many people, there is a need to process the events that led to this life transition. For instance, if you’re going through a divorce, processing what about the relationship led to this is often essential for moving forward. Depending on what has happened in your life, it may be useful to explore grief and loss, trauma, and beliefs one has about yourself that come from your childhood or family of origin. For most people, life transitions aren’t just painful because they bring about stress and change, but also because big changes tend to activate old insecurities and fears. For instance, a person who is starting their new dream job may find that in addition to the pride of landing the job, they are also facing their lifelong feelings of inadequacy.
Accepting One’s Emotions Without Judgment
Many people are confused when they are unhappy or distressed during a life transition. This tends to be more pronounced when people are experiencing positive changes, such as marriage. They may have thoughts such as:
“Maybe I wasn’t ready for this.”
“I’ve been wanting this for a long time so why am I not happy?”
“I shouldn’t be feeling this way.”
A big part of counseling during life transitions is becoming aware of your emotions and accepting them for what they are, rather than focusing on the idea that those emotions are bad or unacceptable. It’s not helpful to add shame to the difficult emotions you’re already experiencing, so the goal would be to normalize difficult emotions and to start being honest with loved ones about how you’re really feeling.
Life Transitions Counseling: Conclusions
Life transitions happen to everyone and sometimes, not by choice. You’re not the only one having difficulty with adjusting to a life change, whether that change is good or bad. Navigating life transitions with the help of a therapist can bring relief, new insight, better self-understanding. Life transitions counseling can help people develop effective and realistic coping skills to deal with day-to-day stress and negative emotions. In addition, it might be necessary to process the grief and loss associated with the change in your life. Finally, the deeper work in therapy can help you better understand what the change brings up for you so that you can process these experiences in order to heal and move forward.
Hi, I’m Chu Hui (pronounced “Chew Hee”), aka Dr. Cha.
I’m a Licensed Psychologist with 13 years of clinical experience. I support people through tough transitions in life. I see adults who live in California, Texas, 41 other states, and worldwide.
By working with me, you’ll develop effective tools for coping with the transition so you can get some relief. I’ll also help you make sense of what you’re going through in the broader context of your life history. By connecting these dates, you can move forward through this transition with confidence and resilience.
Read more about me here. If I seem to be a good fit for you, book a free consultation with me.
