Walking Through Life’s Transitions: A Five-Part Series
Life is full of change. Some changes are exciting—new opportunities, new places, new beginnings. Others are painful and even scary —loss, endings, or seasons we never would have chosen. When we’re going through transitions, it pushes us to let go, to live in the unknown, and eventually to step into something new.
In his book Transitions, William Bridges reminds us that change and transition are not the same thing. Change is the external shift—what happens to us. Transition is the inner process—the way we adapt, grieve, grow, and move forward. He names three stages of transition that give us a framework for transitions we all face:
Endings – the place where we let go of what was, even when it hurts.
The Neutral Zone – the messy middle, when the old is gone but the new hasn’t yet fully taken shape.
New Beginnings – the moment we begin to live into new rhythms and new realities.
Over the next five posts, I’ll be sharing reflections on different areas of life where transition shows up—sometimes unexpectedly, sometimes in ways that feel overwhelming, and always with the potential for growth.
What This Series Will Explore
Transitions in Culture – how our political and social climate is reshaping identity and belonging, and how we might navigate endings, tension, and hope for renewal.
Transitions in Friendship – what it feels like to let go of friendships, redefine relationships, and to carry forward the good with grace.
Transitions in Work – how the rise of AI is reshaping the way we work, and what it means to let go of old ways, live with uncertainty, and redefine how we navigate in a changing world.
Transitions in Parenting – the tender shifts of launching children into independence while still parenting at home, and the complicated emotions of endings, in-betweens, and beginnings.
Transitions in Adulthood – the “messy middle” of carrying responsibilities in many directions at once: caring for aging parents, supporting children across very different stages, and finding a way forward in the midst of it all.
Closing Thoughts
Transitions are not easy. They often hold grief and uncertainty right alongside possibility and hope. But they also invite us to grow—not just to survive change, but to be shaped by it in ways that deepen our resilience, our compassion, and our capacity.
My hope for this series is that you’ll see glimpses of your own story. You may be navigating endings, sitting in the Neutral Zone, or just beginning to sense that something new is coming. Wherever you find yourself, remember that you are not alone.
An Invitation for Reflection
As you begin this series, I invite you to reflect on the following:
What transition am I currently navigating in my own life?
Which stage—ending, Neutral Zone, or new beginning—best describes where I am right now?
What might it look like to walk through this transition with honesty, patience, and hope?
Sometimes simply naming where we are in the process can give us the courage to take the next step forward.