If you follow me on Instagram, I’ve been talking about life transitions and I asked this question:
“Do you feel you’re in a transition right now and if so, how do you feel about it?”
I got an overwhelming response in my DM’s of people sharing the transitions they’re currently experiencing. From divorce, career changes, retirement, physical injury, illness and the general discomfort and uncertainty of an ever-changing world.
In my last email, I presented a simple challenge and a life tip for dealing with transitions. Allow your mind to wander a bit, and allow yourself to daydream again. If you missed this challenge, you can read about it here.
Daydreaming is especially helpful when our life looks different from what we planned, or we feel pressured to continue working towards an undefined goal.
While I’ve been through many transitions in my life. From losing my legs at 19, having a kidney transplant at 21, and eventually becoming a professional athlete. I suddenly found “fame” when I appeared on Dancing With The Stars. Then, my life changed again, unexpectedly when I sustained a major vascular injury and eventually retired from competitive snowboarding.
Retiring from snowboarding wasn’t a transition I was mentally ready for. In many ways, I was in peak form and felt more prepared than ever to compete at the highest level. Yet, in the blink of an eye, I was hospitalized and had my left leg amputated for a second time and then.. a third time!
I remember feeling as If I was letting go of everything I’d built and floating into a vast uncertainty.
I want to give you a new challenge. Something that’s a bit deeper. A mindset that’s even more effective than simply allowing yourself to dream.
Appreciate the magic of the unknown.
At that moment I felt like a ship that had left the harbor, lost sight of land, with no clear destination, and no compass to guide me.
It was a terrifying feeling yet I had a moment of clarity. A calmness and realization that this ship could arrive in a place even more wonderful than before.
Deepak Chopra says it best “ the unknown is where the possibilities live.”
If you are always living in the “known” then you will only do what you’ve always done. You will only know the people you’ve already met, and be where you’ve already been.
When you make a decision to step into the unknown, anything can happen. You might find yourself in a wonderful place, that you never could have imagined.
Transition is when we are “in-between” the major chapters of our life. This is a place where magic can happen if you keep your mind and heart open.
“Are you open to the magic of the unknown?”
In my 5-steps to Resiliency, I talk about reframing a situation. Looking at it from a perspective of compassion and empathy. The same steps can be used to welcome the unknown.
1. Stay present.
The moments where you are looking out the window of an airplane or walking to work. It’s those moments when distractions are low that your higher self speaks to you, where your mind quiets down enough to hear your inner voice. Can you hear it?
2. Have empathy towards yourself.
Unconditional love isn’t just reserved for others, it’s important to love ourselves unconditionally as well. It’s about fully accepting the ups and downs of our journey in order to live our truest, most authentic life. Accept your story and your past and give yourself some grace for coming as far as you have.
3. Change the story you tell yourself.
Gratitude is the secret to happiness. When you celebrate what you have, you instantly live abundantly. When you focus on what you don’t have you instantly live in scarcity. Abundance is a mindset, gratitude is the key that unlocks the door.
Rather than looking at your present and mourning what was, choose to see this moment as an opportunity and allow the magic to find you. Negative things will happen in your life, but so can wonderful, magical things.
The unknown is a rigid box and as scary as it is to live in a space of uncertainty, it is where the possibilities are endless!