Life Transitions
Are you struggling to cope with a new life transition? Life is beautiful and comes with many challenges. You don't have a map, only an internal compass. My services help you connect with that compass to find strength and empowerment to face these challenges.
You will have many changes and life transitions throughout your life. Some will be predictable, positive and exciting. However, as we have seen in the last years, other life changes are unexpected, tragic, and life-altering. Regardless, any life transition can be difficult. Us humans tend to resist change. We can become uncomfortable when faced with uncertainty and unknown routines.
Examples of Major Life Transitions
Psychotherapy can help you adjust to almost any major stressor or change in your life. My specialties are in perinatal issues and grief and loss. Yet there are many other life transitions where a therapy can help. Below are some of the common stressors or changes that often bring people to my Fort Collins Colorado counseling office. This is by no means a complete list. There are hundreds of other changes that could be going on in your life. So, please know that whether or not the thing cause you stress is on this list, therapy can likely help you cope with the change you are facing and adapt to your new normal with confidence.
Job Change (move, promotion, layoff, etc)
Sudden Success
Retirement
Marriage/Remarriage
Divorce/Breakup
Moving/Relocating
Health Problems
Aging
Recovery
Empty Nest Syndrome
Winning the Lottery
Social/Political Changes
Leaving Home
Starting College/Graduating
Financial Troubles
Caring for Elderly Parents
Identity/Gender Questions
Faith/Spirituality Changes
Disabling Accident/Tragedy
Loss of Home
All Transitions Can Be Challenging
Life transitions of any kind can be challenging. Change is hard. Even when change viewed as positive or natural. Even if it's something you personally created such as when you are the one asking for a divorce, when you choose to take a new job in a different state or when you are ready to retire. Why? Because, big changes can wreak havoc with your sense of yourself, your sense of safety, and your sense of meaning and purpose. It is easy to feel discomfort and uncertainty in facing these changes.
Many people can feel stuck and struggle to navigate their new normal. Sometimes change even causes other issues, like anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. Especially if they cannot manage the stress of these transitional times. When the difficulty of your life change disrupts your ability to cope, your ability to perform daily routines, work, or relationships, it is time to seek help. Therapy for life transitions can guide you through this challenging time.
You may be surprised how powerful it can be to have a therapist to help you find your balance again. Someone who is a neutral party who can listen and support you can go a long way to helping you heal, adjust and regain your confidence.
What is Counseling for Life Transitions?
Counseling for life transitions offers you the space and guidance to process what this life change means for you. There is no one-size-fits-all answer to change. As a therapist, it's my job to help you figure out exactly what you personally need.
For instance, you may want to explore your own history and the impact of past transitions. You may want to talk about other major milestone's you've experienced as those experiences influenced how you are approaching this transition. In fact, exploring how you handled previous stressful situations will shed light on how a difficult experience in the past might be impacting your ability to cope with this new life change. This can help you focus on what you need to do today to move forward.
On the other hand, you may want to examine your life, your values, and your vision. This might bring up many questions about who you are and how you want to relate to yourself, experience your life, and interact with others. The answers to these questions can empower you and help you adapt, and counseling can help you find those answers within yourself.
You Will Learn Specific Coping Strategies
Ultimately, transitions counseling helps you create a survival tool kit of insights and coping skills. You will learn very specific strategies to help you manage your stress and bring balance and stability into your life. Because change happens every day, future transitions that are inevitable. Participating in counseling now can help you increase your resilience so you are ready to face those future transitions with confidence.
You don’t have to do this alone. I have experience helping clients navigate through many major life transitions in healthy and productive ways. This helps you flourish and face future changes with increased confidence. Through counseling, we will work together through difficult emotions, find solutions to challenges, and discover the opportunities and growth that life transitions can offer. You can then move forward into your future with clarity and confidence.
Life Transitions Can Be Positive
Every ending is can be a new beginning. Change is a natural and constant part of our world. All of our development, the seasons, relationships, social structures. We are wired with the capacity for change. Even as we may find it difficult, confusing, and overwhelming.
Change can lead to personal growth. Often leading to the development of new skills or knowledge and a greater awareness of your life’s meaning and purpose. You can emerge stronger, more confident, and content. Every experience of change prepares you for the next. What if you could make space for change during this life transition. You could invite it in, learn from every experience, and let it grow you into your next level of fulfillment?
Whatever life transition you are facing, I can help you manage change positively and support your journey along your new life path. I provide in-person counseling for life transitions at my Fort Collins office and also offer online therapy through out Colorado. I would love to set up a free 15 minute consultation call to learn how I can support you on your journey.