Transitions

This has been a BIG week for so many people I know. Friends and family graduating from college, high school, 8th grade, 5th grade, kindergarten, pre-school, even. It’s a big deal. Life is a series of moments and milestones and changes and transitions. 

Why is it that changes and transitions can be so hard? Even the good ones.

Transitions signal an end. They also welcome new, unknown changes that can be stressful and disorienting. It's through these transitions that we grow. And that's the whole point of life, right? 

Two poems I read this week helped comfort me as I've experienced a roller coaster of emotions during Sofia's last week of elementary school. So I wanted to share them with you. Whether you're going through a transition now, or not, as we all know, the only constant is change. So I hope these help you now - or at some point in the future - as much as they've helped me this week. 

TURNING POINTS

The turning points along your path

Are marked by loss of direction.

For what you took for granted once

You now must seek correction.

In nature, growth involves vast change.

The eggshell cracks, the nest must crumble;

The tadpole's tail will always fall off.

The scope of change makes you humble.

For humans, the signs are not as clear

When transition occurs without warning

Disorientation seems to be the norm,

Until you can experience a dawning.

To cope with change, you grasp at straws,

And repeat old familiar acts.

You need to see from new perspectives,

So as to learn a new set of facts.

What's learned is that transition is

Set in motion by an ending,

You must learn to let go of outdated things

To accept the new ones pending.

Confusion abounds in the middle of it all,

What identified you once, now does not.

What has ended will ultimately be replaced,

But the wonder is a tender spot.

Following all forms of mass confusion

You can make a brand new start …

A new beginning that sets you free

To follow your own heart.

TO LIVE IS TO CHANGE

Change is always for the best

Although you may not agree.

Without it all things would remain stagnant

And die, every human and tree.

For a conscious being, to exist is to change,

And to change is to mature.

To mature is to go on creating

Yourself, in all you endure.

In your art and in daily living;

In your work and in your play,

There's always room for improvement.

There's always a better way.

The trick is to flow with each step

And not try to skip one or two.

The last step always builds on the first,

And you are creating.

To live is to change, there's no disagreement;

The facts are there in plain sight.

And to live well is to have changed often.

It is our natural birthright.

Perfection is a goal to keep in mind.

Why else would we change and try again?

The joy is in the pursuit as much

As it's in the prize we obtain.

I’m trying to think of this transition from elementary school to middle school in the fall like finishing a good book and being excited to read the sequel! This is the natural order of life. Growing up is good. Change is good. Transitions are still hard. 'The wonder is a tender spot.' Follow your heart! 

Xo,

Amy

Poems from SOJOURNS by Kathryn Carole Ellison. 

Images from one of my favorite journals.

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