TINY GIFTS OF TRANSITION

Hello and welcome back.  It's a quiet Sunday morning, I am sitting in my favorite writing chair with my favorite coffee mug, in my home.  I’m feeling deeply grateful.  Ava and I have transitioned back home after living in Portland for a few months.  No more Sunday scaries in anticipation of leaving again, no more suitcases, no more long drives and nightly facetime calls, we are home.  

This has me thinking about the good and hard parts of transition.  Big or small, voluntary or not, all transitions can interrupt flow of routine, invite new or old patterns, expectations, and shift the energy of things.  However, there are tiny gifts inside transition when we slow down and pay attention.  You know the feeling you get when you arrive home after being gone for a long work trip or vacation?  That.  Gratitude for the familiarity of home or the space where you experience simple comforts.  Yes, the everyday happenings of daily routine and transition does feel monotonous and mundane sometimes but when I couldn’t be there to experience them with Matt and Carson, my perspective shifted big time.  Do you remember the last time you were sick and you couldn't do the things you typically would and suddenly you longed for the return to “normal” uneventful everyday life? 

That's the feeling.          

Oftentimes this tiny moment of magic in transition passes quickly as all the other roles and responsibilities take over our attention.  What if we intentionally took pause to breathe in this moment in transition, download the relief in the exhale?  Give thanks to these little everyday comforts often overlooked.  This is one of the many takeaways from my time away from home.  

The one thing I know to be true is it has always been the little things that matter most.  This week, I invite you to look for tiny moments of comfort, cozy, and familiar in your transitions.  The people and things you’ve placed in your life that in their absence would leave a void.   

Transitions create opportunity for fresh perspective, something new to come in.  An opportunity to experience deeper gratitude for the familiar.  You don’t need to move away from home to experience it.  The next time you’re reaching for your cozy clothes after a long day or you’re finally settling into your favorite spot on the couch, take a beat.  Give thanks.  As always, stay open, brave, and on-purpose.