Transition is a Naturally Occurring Element of Life

What I’m thinking about this weekend …

No one goes through life without experiencing a transition or two — be it in careers, relationships, whatever. Sometimes transitions are forced events and sometimes they are meticulously thought out.

The coronavirus pandemic is strangely affecting both kinds of transitions.

The latest jobs report indicates that 20.5 millions jobs have been lost since the start and our unemployment rate is 14.7%.

Many of those jobs are unlikely to return — ever.

Some industries are simply going to contract to a new optimal operating capacity. Some jobs will return but not for another 12-18 months. But we might also see entirely new jobs and segments emerge.

In the middle of all that change are individual human beings. We will naturally see failure and struggle deeply. We might struggle because we will feel we weren’t ready for a transition. But that’s just a story we tell ourselves.

We can tell ourselves a different story.

We could look at the current moment and evaluate our place and meaning in our careers or lives. We could ask ourselves: “What is it that I do that meaningfully contributes to a better world or a better me?”

(If I’m better, isn’t the world around me better?)

If we can center on our why (see Simon Sinek), articulate it in a way that makes sense, then maybe the transition takes on a life of its own.

Maybe we’ll see the transition as less of a failure which we grieve and more of a progression which we celebrate.