Jeannie Colvin, MFT

Jeannie Colvin, MFTJeannie Colvin, MFTJeannie Colvin, MFT

Jeannie Colvin, MFT

Jeannie Colvin, MFTJeannie Colvin, MFTJeannie Colvin, MFT
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Transitions

Finding your footing when everything is shifting

Life transitions, whether they are positive or negative, can significantly impact a person's well-being.  One day you're walking along in life, the next day you're moving through waves.  Our culture does not have many ways to help us to the other side, and can minimize how overwhelming these transitions can be.


Common life transitions include

  • attending college
  • needing to make major life decisions for the first time
  • leaving home 
  • loss of an important relationship
  • major health concern or injury
  • losing a job
  • getting married or divorced
  • having a child
  • death of a loved one (human or animal)
  • empty-nesting
  • retiring

Identity

Even positive changes can stir up unexpected emotions. Life transitions can shake your sense of identity and stability, forcing you to reexamine who you are and what you value. This reflection can lead to confusion, uncertainty, or a loss of direction. 

Grief

All transitions involve loss.  You are saying good-bye to one thing as you are saying hello to something new.  It can be especially painful when the good-bye is unwanted.


Transitions involving loss—whether of a job, role, relationship, or loved one—can trigger grief, sadness, or even depression. Grieving is a natural, human response to loss. It can feel disorienting when you're unsure of who you are or how to move forward.  

Meaning

When you've built your life around something that's no longer there, it can shake the foundations of what you thought you knew.  Suddenly, questions you believed were settled rise to the surface. When life feels like it has lost its meaning, it can be an invitation to turn inward—to explore, reflect, and begin discovering something deeper and more whole within yourself 

Stress

A change in life means uncertainty of the new situation.  Coping with the unknown, making decisions, and adapting to change can be mentally exhausting and emotionally draining.

Social Isolation

Change often brings uncertainty. Adapting to new circumstances, making decisions, and facing the unknown can be mentally and emotionally exhausting. People sometimes withdraw from social connections during these times, or they may leave old relationships behind without having a new support system in place. 

Getting Help

It's important to remember: everyone responds to life transitions differently. What feels manageable to one person may be incredibly challenging for another—and that’s okay.


Counseling during a time of transition can be a powerful, meaningful, and grounding experience. It offers a supportive space to explore your changing identity and find your footing. Your emotions, and your confusion, are not too much. They're part of the process, and you don't have to go through it alone.

Wandering between two worlds, one dead, The other powerless to be born, With nowhere yet to rest my head, Like these, on earth I wait forlorn.


Matthew Arnold, The Great Chartreuse

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