If you follow me on social media you probably know I’m not long back from a vacation where my husband and I hiked into the Grand Canyon, camped for a couple of days and then of course hiked back out. It was an amazing trip… super hard at times but I felt a huge amount of gratitude for all aspects of it and didn’t want it to end… even those switchbacks at the end of the trail up.  I’m still processing it all and…

That brings me to what’s on my mind this week – transitions.  

This is a week of transitioning from my vacation and all that came with it to my daily routine.  And those who know me, know that I have always found this transition hard, it takes me awhile to get back into healthy habits, into my work and to have enough energy to do those things. I want to sleep a lot after vacation and this time is no exception. I have the post vacation blues.

I use to give myself a hard time for it, I use to think I ‘should’ be able to bounce right back into things… no transition time required. In the last couple of years though, I’ve learned to ride this post vacation wave with a bit more ease. I do sleep more and I have learned not to schedule anything big or new the week I after I get back. Not fighting my feelings really has helped make it an easier time.  Funny how that is hey!  I know that what I’m feeling is natural and that it too shall pass and as I’ve written about before, I’m starting to honour my cycles more and this is one of them.

So while I’m experience a post vacation transition, I’m also going through a bit of a transition in my life and career right now.

This transition has been happening for a couple of months and of course, I am finding it hard while thinking I shouldn’t. I think should have all the answers and I should just keep plugging forward (notice those pesky shoulds).

I’m about to start back into the IT world and take on a small Project Management role, I’m taking a break from teaching my corporate and studio classes this summer and I’m trying to determine how best to move forward in the online space. I have a lot of ideas and interests but am unsure at this point what and how to share in a way that serves my community (you) while also honouring what really lights me up. This all means that there are a lot of unknowns in my life and I’m trying to be in this time honouring that it’s okay not to have all the answers. 

This all reminds me of other the transitions we experience.

Two in nature that we see every day are dusk and dawn. How often do we pay attention to these transitions? If there’s a cool sunset we might or if we happen to be up for the sunrise it might pique our attention as well. But many of us don’t seek out and honour these daily transitions often.  We did quite a bit on our trip, and maybe that’s a sign for me to honour and be more present in my own transitions, just as I am learning to be with nature’s. Dusk is the time when the world slows down and goes quiet (the period I feel like I’m in now) and then the dawn brings us the light and energy of a new day.  It always happens… dawn always breaks and a new day always unfolds. I have total faith in that so why not have faith that my own dawn will appear?   

We also transition in our flow (vinyasa – meaning to place in a special way) yoga classes.  We often transition from one pose to the next through a series of often practiced poses and I notice that during these transitions many students (I count myself as one of them sometimes) move quickly and mindlessly, especially when we are on the second side and we know what’s coming. But there’s a lot of magic in these transitions if we pay attention and honour them. Its where we build strength, where we really link our movements to our breath and where we build the foundation for the next pose.

So what to do?

With all these transitions in mind and seeing how common they are it’s important, I feel, to start to notice and honour them more.  To be aware of how we are feeling and to not rush through them.  To know that just as every 24 hours we will experience dusk and dawn…so too in our life we will move into periods of darkness and rest and periods of light and activity. I ask you to reflect for a moment, can you think of a transition you are or have recently experienced?  How are / did you move through it?  Was it easy or something that you struggled with?  Does this idea of honouring transitions resonate with you?  I’d love to hear from you, hit reply below and let me know!