Over the past year, I have learned to value the importance of transition. I don't know why it has taken me this long, but now that my eyes are open to the importance of transition, I cannot help but see people in transition wherever I look. Since I work primarily with college and graduate school students in my psychology practice, I have the pleasure of watching students grow and change with each passing academic year. September is always a heady time, as the students and I figure out how to rebalance and rework things after the relatively unstructured summer months. We struggle to figure out why we feel lethargic, or why our motivation isn't what we expect it to be. Most times we fail to recognize we are in a period of transition, perhaps because we imagine ourselves to be always at our best, ready to go. It's a nice thought. But there are many reasons to pay mind to the changes we go through in a period of transition:
- we don't have established routines, so even regular tasks seem to take longer
- we don't know how we fit in with the new situation we are in, so we spend more time in doubt about how to act
- we need some time to recover from the experience we have just transitioned out of, even when it has been a positive one, like a happy vacation
- we need some time to learn the ropes in the new experience we are transitioning into and to get to know the new people we are interacting with
One transition I am currently making is the move from being a solo private practice psychologist to doing that and being a blogger. I have no routines established. I have no set way of thinking about how I will blog or what I will say in my blog posts. And my mind feels like it's firing on all cylinders. I am listening more closely, and I am writing for the first time in a very long time. I actually feel like my brain is re-establishing its own wiring. It's fun. It's scary. And it's a bunch of new work for me to put off to tomorrow.
If you are starting a new semester or job, or something new and daunting, I wish you good luck. I also encourage you to embrace this period of transition. Make space for reflection. Take extra good care of yourself. Find pockets of care and support where you can and use them. Don't use this time to beat yourself up or feel like you are not good enough. Believe you will get back in the game and start to feel successful again — which you will.
How do you tend to handle transitions? What moods do you go through? What feelings might you ignore?
As a college faculty member who’s returning to campus this fall after a yearlong sabbatical, I can identify with your observations about transitions. One thing I noticed was a feeling of butterflies before my first classes, which surprised me, given that I have over fifteen years’ experience as a college instructor. One helpful thing was to remind myself that “I’ve succeeded in this before, and I will do so again.” I picked up that adage (or something like it) in a writer’s guide, which proffered it as something to remind oneself when facing the blank page, and it’s useful in other situation too, I think.
Thanks for being open here about your back-to-school jitters, Jonathan. I’m sure it will be comforting for students who read this blog to know their professors have moments of self-doubt too. I hope your sabbatical year was rewarding and full, and I wish you all the best this year back in the saddle!