CHANGE VS TRANSITION

□ Chris Lawton

I've always thought that Autumn is THE season that represents change more than most. The shades of colours in the trees, the bite of cold in the air, daylight saving time changes, and in the UK at least, the start of the new school year. 

This year, change seems more poignant than most. We have been in this extended season of learning to do things differently. Friendships, work, meetings, daily habits. This covid season has forced us to make changes that we may not have chosen otherwise. 

For me, a helpful distinction has always been between change and transition. Change can often happen in an instance. A sudden death, a new house, a new teacher in school, a new car, a new baby. There may have been a process to get there, but in a moment everything is different - we are without a loved one, or we have new loved one, we are suddenly in different surroundings and so on. Those changes may be our choice or not.

But transition - adjusting our expectations, emotions, habits, patterns of life - is more of a process than a moment. We may even welcome the change, but still experience moments of sadness, loss or questioning as we process the loss of the old amidst the excitement of the new. Sometimes the change was far beyond our control and not welcome. That process of adjusting can take even longer, particularly if we are reluctant to allow ourselves to even start it. 

You can be really good at change and still need some time to allow the process of transition to take place. Allowing your heart, mind and soul to catch up to the environment around you which is now different. Take a moment and allow yourself to acknowledge the changes that have taken place in your life over the past months, allow yourself to feel sad for the goodbyes as well as the joy of the hellos. Change and transition are different, and there is grace for the process.