Times of Transition
By: Lara Dustin Scriba
(3 min. read)
Sitting in the middle of a transition is both exciting yet so incredibly uncomfortable. Today, we are celebrating one month of cruising, and so much has unfolded. Each day is a new adventure, a new place, new skills being learned, and new comfort levels have been reached.
Taking it all in is exhilarating and exhausting all in the same breath, and we find ourselves trying to juggle it all. We are learning to let go of unrealistic expectations as we step outside our patterns of predictability.
Our minds feel muddled as we try combing to-do lists that never seem to get any shorter. There is a bit of disorientation felt as our bodies try to acclimate to the constant motion of the sea. We adjust to new daily rhythms (that also change daily), new environments, and new demands. Even as we sleep, there is a sense of vigilance to keep one ear open for shifts in weather or the sound of a dragging anchor.
A constant recalibration of the nervous system as we encounter new scenarios, assess risks, and make choices… on repeat day in and day out. Our bodies have begun to rise and fall with the sun, making bedtime ridiculously yet gloriously early.
Logically, I know that our bodies and minds are under a huge undertaking and that we should give ourselves some grace. But a part of me feels we should be taking advantage of the “extra time” we have, failing to remember how long simple daily tasks now take.
It reminds me of the resistance new mothers feel when they have their first child and are told to “rest when they rest.” There is that incessant drive in those precious quiet moments to maintain previous levels of productivity until sheer exhaustion sets in.
We are simply finding our footing in this new lifestyle, and I need to give myself some grace as this is a huge transition. We are establishing new norms, roles, and perspectives—challenging assumptions and unfounded fears and addressing real fears and needing to realistically assess risks. We are in the midst of so much shifting, churning, resorting, and reorganizing in so many areas of our own being, our new lifestyle, and roles within our family. I need to remind myself that it’s okay to take this time of transition; it will all come with time.
So often, in times of transition, we are forcing ourselves towards the next phase without enjoying the one we are currently in. Just because there is no physical evidence of my productivity in a traditional sense, I must still honor the heavy work that is happening in the unseen moments of our lives. The ones that transform us from the inside out and manifest as the life we’ve been dreaming of for so many years.
