We are grateful that April is over. It was a month loaded with myriad transitions leaving no time to process them.
Life transitions often involve noteworthy changes to an individual’s lifestyle, mostly in the social context. It is therefore normal to experience anxiety and vulnerability.
Given that the world changes constantly, human nature likes to cling to the most comfortable for self-preservation.
Life transitions have negative and positive aspects that culminate in stress. We need to learn healthy ways of navigating them to survive and thrive.
Author Bruce Feiler, observes that, “On average, everyone goes through a disruptive event every 12 to 18 months. One in ten of these are major changes “life quakes” that lead to transitions”.
However, transitions take us to a stage where we have to confront our emotions and bid them “goodbye”, which implies leaving people and situations behind.
Transitions have a messy middle that involves shedding off certain habits, which may cause discomfort.
It is a workshop to forge new habits that reinforce the transition, which comes with new responsibilities.
At the tail end is a showroom for ushering in a new beginning whereby an individual unveils the new self who is donning a new outlook.
Therefore, we should not fear transitions since they provide us with lofty opportunities to rewrite our life history.
April was packed with life-altering transitions.
To start with, the President signed into law five bills, including the supplementary budget.
Then came the oil crisis, which pushed prices of essential commodities to the skies.
We had an unfettered Easter and Ramadhan festivities, which had been postponed for two years owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The KCPE and KCSE exams were done and results announced with the usual fanfare and disappointments for candidates.
Our young men who completed Std 8 underwent initiations in various forums.
The academic year ended in April and a new one began. Parents experienced low purchasing power, making some students miss essential commodities, including pocket money.
We had bruising party nominations culminating in new realignments.
Sadly, former President Mwai Kibaki died leaving us with fond memories of his wit, jokes and unrivalled development record.
However, we need to stop whining and focus on some pay-offs within the whole spectrum. Life transitions provide us with an opportunity to reassess the path our life is leading.
Through transitions, we are able to learn more about our personalities and understand what makes us happy and fulfilled.
Here are some tips on how to manage transitions.
Firstly, understand that transitions occupy a special place in your life’s trajectory. The processes, aesthetics, emotions and graphical interface are well embedded in the memory.
Secondly, tag into your support network. Social support is a significant key to successfully managing a transition. One is able to get emotional boost and practical advice.
Thirdly, plan ahead and get things in order to enable you to pass through significant life changes without getting devastated. Getting orderly will ease both physical and psychological strain emanating from transitions.
Lastly, it is important to appreciate that transitions are part of the life process. Life never stops completely for every moment, people and materials enter your world and leave.
If life never changed in any aspect, it would be lifeless and very dull.
Lack of psycho-social support is leading to suicide among learners. While few cases from prominent personalities get reported, those from the forgotten lower class are left unaddressed.
Both adults and learners have undergone “life quakes” during the April holidays and are carrying a load of unprocessed issues.
Learners need therapy to help them overcome this psychological backlog in order to unlock the mental energy necessary for academic engagement.
Psychological counsellor and a freelance writer
