Is This Transition or Change?

What is transition and why is it different from change? Change is the thing that happens on the outside. Change is moving house, it is travelling abroad, change is securing a new job….. Change is visible, external and usually measurable. Transition however is the bit that happens on the inside that leads up to the choice to make change. It is the cycle of emotions that we traverse in order to need change. It is the psychological journey that we make in order to be able to move from where we have comfortably been to where we now need to be.
According to Prochaska Stages of Change this is the internal process: The first is ‘Pre-contemplation’ where ignorance is bliss and we do not know we need to change. This is followed by ‘Contemplation’ where we are ambivalent about change and we sit on the fence. We do however know something is amiss with our current circumstances. Thus we move towards ‘Preparation’ where we begin to integrate the possibility of change and begin to test the waters…. Experimentation 

What you may be noticing is that the above listed stages are mostly internal. Within these the Kubler-Ross change curve acknowledges the emotional process we inevitably follow. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. We humans are creatures of habit and will do much to stay right where we are with what we know before choosing to change.

In William Bridges’  Managing Transitions he also focuses on the internal journey, the psychological transition. Stage one: The Ending, inevitably contains grief because there will always be losses when change is even contemplated. Stage 2 is the Neutral Zone: where the old way has already gone but the new way is not yet psychologically embedded. This is where we risk quitting and taking a step backwards … Beware, because a return is rarely sustainable for long. This is an uneasy bit of the journey, the old no longer serves us but equally we are vulnerable in our new skills and our confidence is low. Stick with it! Stage 3 is the new beginning. The external change is in place and you can begin your first one hundred days…

Most of the above happens before we move to action, maintenance and usually some kind of relapse where we test out old ways to ensure that we made the right decision to move onwards…. With all this taking place on the inside, do you really wish to journey alone?

To learn mots of working with Rebrcca click here: The Daemon Career Coach