Life Transitions

The only constant in life is change, but that doesn’t make it easy.

Whether you’ve made a choice, or circumstances made it for you, it can be hard to find your balance after everything has shifted.

Until you’ve found a new “normal” and recalibrated your expectations, you’ll feel unsettled – and possibly anxious or depressed. Even happy changes can still stress people out.

This is the happiest day of my life – and then…

Take Anna*, for example. Graduating from college was a happy change, an accomplishment she was proud of. That’s why she was so surprised that two months after graduation, she was really stressed out. Job-hunting, thinking about graduate school, facing down student loans, and living with her parents again, she was overwhelmed and paralyzed, unsure what to do next.

Or Rob*, who was so excited to be a dad, but also unprepared for all the ways his life and relationship changed when his child arrived. Or Maggie* who had wanted to be a mom since she was a kid, but now that she had a child was afraid she was going to mess everything up.

Tim* had looked forward to his retirement for years, but now that it was here, he wasn’t sure it was all it was cracked up to be. He was unprepared for unscheduled days and hadn’t noticed how much self-worth he’d derived from his job. What were the next years going to look like?

Of course, unhappy changes bring up a lot of feelings and issues, too.

After Daria’s* marriage ended, she felt a lot of relief, but also very alone. She’d thought she knew the plan for her life, but her divorce cancelled that vision. Suddenly, she was making life decisions by herself for the first time since she was 24, while feeling sad, confused, and angry.

Brian* felt like he’d been grieving his father for too long but couldn’t get past it. When was he going to feel normal? Jennifer * didn’t regret coming out to her family, but she was really angry at how her relationship with her conservative brother changed. How should she approach that relationship now?

Let me help you find your way.

Therapy is helpful for making sense of the ways your life has changed and figuring out where to go from here. It can help you adjust more quickly and intentionally, set reasonable new expectations, and make decisions for the future.

Are you ready to start feeling less lost and more on track? Contact me today at (810) 214-0389 to start your healing journey.

*All names are fictitious and all individuals are composites of several people.