Life’s transitions have given me whiplash and I am longing for a moment of stillness.
If life could stop throwing curveballs at me, that would be great.
I put a down payment on an apartment. I moved into said apartment, became engaged, got married. All within the span of a year and a half.
I went from picking a light or dark colour scheme for my kitchen countertops and whether a cream or linen napkin would be the best bet for the wedding reception table settings (spoiler alert: nobody, and I mean literally, nobody, cares) to having to get used to living with another whole human being.
And now that I’m married, I have started getting the “when are you having kids?” questions.
Jeez, will you give me a minute to get used to living with my husband before asking when he will plant a baby in my uterus??
When I finally kicked the dust off my feet and got settled, there was another milestone and transition that I had to work through. Don’t get me wrong — these were all positive life changes, and I was excited to go through each phase. But the transitions were dizzying, and I didn’t know where to look or turn.
I found myself craving any moment of rest and stillness, for the world to stop and just let me be. I didn’t have control over life’s gas pedal and was along for the ride.
And I found myself feeling guilty for wanting that. Why shouldn’t I be grateful that everything was happening to me all at once? For achieving these significant life milestones?
In life, we’re always striving for the next step, the next phase: perhaps it’s a career climb, the search for a spouse, or saving up to buy a new car or house. But we forget that getting from point A to point B takes time.
We often want to bypass that transition to get to the good stuff, to fast forward to where we want to be. But the time of transition is not only necessary but cherished.
There is nothing wrong with sitting through a season of transition and riding out the waves. Recognizing that we’re in that season is beneficial for our personal growth.