I met with a colleague the other day who is in the middle of a Life Work Transition and loving it. She’s left the old identity behind, though some feelings of anger seeped through the conversation, indicating she hadn’t quite moved on to the next phase. But she is actively engaged in writing and especially loves having the time to focus on developing her new artform. At the moment she was overwhelmed with too many ideas about marketing and as a result felt paralyzed. She was in the neutral zone but beginning to move toward the new possibility of “selling” her work. And naturally she froze, which is the emotional system saying “I’m not ready, yet.”
She wasn’t ready to really put herself out there yet, for a number of reasons 1/ fear she wouldn’t be able to produce enough volume, and 2/ it wouldn’t be be of high enough quality. In her situation, I recommended taking a small step to test the marketing waters by signing up for just one show. That way she would have a deadline and a chance to get feedback about her product and service to help her address the feeling of overwhelm. This action step will nudge her further toward her new beginning and identity as an artist/healer. She left that afternoon, and spent the next three hours painting up a storm, now that she was free from her feelings and able to focus again.
Where are you in the stages of transition? Ending? Neutral Zone or New Beginnings? I’d love to hear from you.
Check out the model here https://www.lifeworktransitions.com/exercises/three-stages-of-transition/
