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Transition is Either Voluntary or Involuntary

You may be changing careers, going back to school, or going back to a familiar career. The transition may be voluntary or involuntary.

Voluntary transition can arise from being bored or dissatisfied from what you are doing, or deciding to do something different. Then there are times when you can’t figure out why you are not feeling the joy you think you should be feeling. I remember looking out from the twentieth floor at the crystal-blue Lake Michigan from my beautiful studio apartment. I had it all, yet I felt something was amiss. It didn’t make sense to me why I should be feeling that way, but my gut was sending signals. Soon after, I enrolled into a Fashion Design program, got married, and started my own business in design.

I don’t want to mislead you into thinking that I immediately jumped into going back to school and then getting married once I noticed I wasn’t happy in spite of my circumstances. It is a memory that reminds me to pay attention when I am not at peace with my circumstances, events or relationships, because when you don’t pay attention, your world can come crashing down—mine did! Before going back to school, that is what happened to me. Today I have grown much wiser in paying attention to those signals of unrest.

Involuntary transition is caused by circumstances beyond your control. It may be the loss of a job, loss of a loved one from dissolution of a relationship or death, or health issues. Even though the end may be in sight, there is denial and then shock once it happens. It is a natural tendency to feel hurt and afraid of what the future holds without having the event, person or thing you’ve lost in your life. Despair can be crippling and one can easily sink into taking on the role of victim.

A much better choice is to be open to new possibilities. This is the moment you get to choose your path in the transition process. Your choice: To stay stuck in the unhappiness or to choose to look at new possibilities.

Reflecting back on when I was gazing out at Lake Michigan, shaking off the dubious feeling regarding my life situation at the time, I recognize that the involuntary circumstance that occurred was losing my job as vice president of operations for a small advertising business. The company lost a major account with very little in the pipeline, which resulted in staff reduction.

I have done some wild and crazy things in my lifetime and I was about to do another and then another. The job market was what you might call “unfavorable” at the time. I always loved fashion, so I enrolled in a community college fashion design program. (Little did I know that there was nil instruction on “how to sew” for I knew very little about attaching sleeves into armholes!)

I wasn’t long in school before I met my future husband. Yet again I did not take a stand when my gut was signaling this was not a good idea, but friends and family said I was having the “normal” pre-marriage jitters. The marriage lasted only five years.

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