LIFE TRANSITIONS

Life changes can be challenging to navigate, whether they are expected or unexpected, positive or negative. Such transitions—like starting a new job, relocating to a new city or country, going through a divorce, getting married, or welcoming a new child—can take a toll on both the body and mind. 

Life transitions can include, are not limited to, a change in relationship status, a move, health issues, job loss/changes, etc.

When things change so dramatically, we may lose our balance and instead, start to feel a lot more stress, uncertainty, lack of motivation, loneliness, feeling out of control, fears, discouragement, etc. I believe we are taught from our youth, or maybe wired, to look to the future, feel excitement, and be motivated by it. However, when things change dramatically in our personal world, it throws things off balance. Our emotions are heavy as we have lost so much in a short amount of time, including feelings of stability, hope, connection, safety, and security.

It is important to take care of yourself so that as things change, you are able to find some sense of safety and security in familiar activities. Our subconscious likes familiarity, it brings comfort. The more comfort we can find, the less we will feel chaos and stress in our life.

 There are six main areas of coping skills: Self-soothing, distraction, opposite action, emotional awareness, mindfulness, and crisis planning.

1. To effectively self-soothe, it is important that you involve all of your five senses – touch something soft or squeeze a stress ball; Listen to something either soothing or your favorite kind of music or even a meditation guide; Look at something that brings peace and happiness; Suck on a piece of candy or a mint; Smell something with your favorite scent whether it is in the form of flowers, lotion, candles, etc.
2. Distract yourself with a book, puzzles, a project, crossword puzzles, etc.
3. Opposite actions. Do something that is the opposite of your impulses that matches a more positive emotion. You can do an affirmation statement or find something funny to watch or read.
4. Emotional awareness. Find different ways to express your emotions whether that be through journaling, drawing, blogging, etc.
5. Mindfulness activities include activities that will help you ground yourself like meditation, breathing exercises, naming things around you, etc.
6. Crisis plan. Have a list of people you can call to give you support.         

 It is good to consider our emotional status often, perhaps hourly, and evaluate if we are in a state of lack of motivation, or in a state that we are feeling motivated.
Are you feeling irritated or agitated? Do you feel like screaming or hitting? When you are feeling emotions that are not congruent to how you would rather feel, take a moment and think about the six different coping skills and see which one(s) you are in need of at the time.The more that you are able to self-soothe, the more success you can have.  

How our therapists can support your healing process:

At times we hear, “we are all in the same boat”, but at Lighthouse Counseling Services, we don’t believe that! We believe we can be in the same storm, but not in the same boat. Your ship could be shipwrecked while another’s might not be. Therefore, we treat each client as individuals and do not use a “cookie cutter” mold to help you through your life storms. We are here to help you every step of the way, in the ways that you need.

The therapists at Lighthouse Counseling Services have a plethora of tools to restore peace, safety, and security in your lives once again. Some of the treatment modalities we use include:

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)

Solution-Focused Therapy

IFS (Internal Family Systems)

Motivational-Interviewing

 See below for a therapist who can help ⬇️

Andrea Jones

Charlotte Marshall

Genevieve Simmons

Mica Denman

Alosia Suliafu