Meaningful life transitions

Many people struggle to accept and adapt to life changes and uncertainty. You may know people who dwell on what they can’t grasp or control, rather than what they do know and can control. Even indoor and outdoor settings may be discouraging or get out of hand. Are you affected at all? How might you react to make your life transitions more meaningful?

No matter what your age or background, your attitude about change and transition will touch on;

1) your personal life and relationships

2) job or career

3) finances

4) health and well-being

5) spiritual pursuits

As you identify if you're in early, mid- or late career, or retirement, the answers to the above sections will vary. Your health needs and priorities change with time and circumstances.  You may sense that feeling anxious or discouraged in one area of life negatively impacts other areas. But how often do you realize it? Which steps can you take to gain more focus and understanding to help clarify and solve matters before they rise out of control? Positive thinking  and focusing on goal-setting at any life phase has potential to enable you to experience a more meaningful life.

You can learn to recognize and localize problems, and then consider strategies to help you make smoother transitions in different areas of your life. Start by getting-to-know yourself better. The result is you’re better able to see how areas of your life relate and where you feel comfortable.

• On a personal level: relationships are rarely unchanging. Everyone evolves with time. Whether its family, friends or co-workers, it’s useful to get to know reasons why people change around us and also how and why we react to these changes. Personal goal-setting includes examining the past, present and future aims for varied relationships, from friendships, between parents and children to connections between intimate partners.
• On a professional level: settling into a position with life-long benefits is often a thing of the past. Young people explore jobs and careers within turbulent global markets. Mid- and senior career professionals are increasingly restless and can be forced to leave during downsizing. Even many traditional careers no longer have the predictability and stability they once did. More people experience multiple job transitions. There may be no single 'right fit.'  As people age and approach or live retirement, they also wonder what they should do next in life, and how to define new kinds of fulfillment. Professional goal-setting examines and plans pursuits which reveal that not all meaningful work will earn money. Some gives it away. 
• On a financial level: consider your basic needs and expectations for whatever phase of life you live now and what you imagine you will need for a comfortable retirement. Do you have employee benefits? pension options? are you self-supporting? make voluntary RRSP or superannuation contributions? Reflect on personal budgets, expenses, investments and savings plans.  Financial goal-setting involves evaluating what you have and what you aspire toward.
• On a health & well-being level: how do you feel and where would you like to be? We could all benefit from examining our eating, exercise and lerisure patterns and habits. Is there anything in your life choices that you suspect could be healthier? You may choose to go further than a self-evaluation. Begin by deciding if there's anything you'd like to change. The phrases, "you are what you eat," "you're only as old as you feel" may accurately reflect how you treat your body.  Health & well being goal-setting can be further broken down again.  
• On a spiritual level: your understanding of 'Higher Forces' influences the your chosen morals, ethics and also behavioural standards devised by Earthly societies.  That includes those civilisations which profess no belief in God.  We each decide what is acceptable or unacceptable in a given circumstance and period of our lives.  Our thoughts decide what we're trying to be, do and have. Spiritual goal-setting is a branch with religious and non-religious options to discover more intimate sides of yourself, your feelings and sense of direction.