Will Transitions Always Suck?

I hate transitions! 

There, I said it.  There are very few things I hate, but it’s just the truth. Transitions suck.

I hate the weeks leading up to the start of school and the weeks in the spring as the school year winds down. I’m not crazy about the days leading up to the New Year. And I don’t like in-between time – the time when things feel uncertain because the routine is changing or a new start is on the horizon, like now, as I find a new job and schedule.

It’s uncomfortable to be uncertain, to not know what’s next, for things to be up-in-the air. 

I like routine and control.  I hate wondering and unknowns.  But… life is full of uncertainty, wonder and unknown (Hello, 2020!!). There’s no getting around it.  

So I am watching myself sit with discomfort,, seeing myself squirm and get cranky, and I’m making myself hang in there.  I’m resisting the urge to speed up processes that I know just take time. 

It’s not easy.  I’m no good at it, but the truth is I am not in control and will never be able to predict all that might lie ahead.  And what would be the fun in that anyway?

…

I planted a cut flower box this spring and put in Lisianthus on a recommendation from someone at the local garden center, Paisley Gardens. I had no idea what the thin green shoots would become and now, here she is!  Lovely and delicate, yet rich and layered.  I didn’t know if she’d make it through the heat or get blown over by the wind or a wild game of basketball on the pad beside her cedar box, but somehow she made it. 

Her stem is a little bendy and I don’t know if she can support another bloom, but I’m leaving her right there. Where she can keep reaching and sharing her beauty. Just as she is.

Nature has a way of reminding me that everything happens just as it’s supposed to.  In the time that’s right.

And when I slow down enough to notice this truth, I feel more at peace with my own situation. I hope I can allow trust and faith to keep doing their work in me and maybe some day I’ll face transitions with curiosity and lightness rather then a clenched jaw. 

Maybe transitions won’t always suck.

I can always hope.