Life transitions are really exciting but overwhelmingly exhausting. It’s especially exciting once the dust settles and you’re fully living that next chapter of your life book. But whoa nelly, living in the midst of the transition wears you out. It is a conflicting mix of feelings that is akin to being in a pinball machine where you are the ball, the external world is pressing the button, and you’re being flung from a feeling of happiness to the feeling of distress back to happiness to confusion and so on. It’s exhausting getting back that sense of balance.

During my 20 years of HR, I knew how to fill in the blanks for nearly everything that crossed my path. Entering into a new career now that I’m out of school, I feel the exhaustion. I feel the excitement. I feel the distress. I feel the happiness. And I feel the soreness of being flung from one of those to the other and back again. So here’s where the salve comes in. The salve of self-care.

Yeah, that phrase makes some want to roll their eyes and sigh. But why? Self care is taking care of ourself. It’s resting when we’re tired. It’s giving our brain a break. It’s not necessarily spending tons of money on a spa day or a huge vacation. It’s letting ourselves just chill out for a bit and recharge. It’s a simple sometimes as walking away from our devices for half an hour and sitting in the sun (or, shade – let’s not get too carried away). It may be brewing a fresh pot of iced tea. Maybe it’s taking a short nap. It’s just giving ourself a break. That short break gives us energy to keep going. It gets us closer to that balance.

Yep, moving slow can help us move fast.

If you’d like to explore giving yourself a break and getting support on your life transitions, give me a shout.