Life is full of transitions.  Some happen when you’re young and other people force you.  You go from diapers to the potty, that’s a transition.  Some happen when you’re older and you have a choice in the matter.  You go from High School to College, that’s a transition.  Some happen and start out happy.  You get married, that’s a transition.  Some you have time to prepare for.  You have a child, that’s a transition.  Some happen quickly.  You lose a major client because they’re closed due to a pandemic, that’s a transition.

There’s a phrase I’ve used for years relating to lying: “It’s not a lie if you told the truth as you knew it at the time.”  Circumstances change, and that can turn a once thought-to-be true statement into a lie.  Tomatoes were once thought to be poisonous.  Anyone who used to say that shouldn’t now be accused of lying today.  The same is true with transitions.  You make the best decisions you can based on the information you have at the time.  You can move to a new house thinking it’s perfect for your family, then they build a mini-mall right next door, you can’t blame yourself and say you made a bad transition.

Even when we think we’re not in transition, others around us are and their transitions affect us, so by default we are, too.  Sort of second-hand transitions.  It might be a friend or relative who is going through a transition and it affects our lives.  It could be a neighborhood, a state, or a country.  Even a foreign nation can go through a transition and it affects the U.S. or even us directly if we have international business ties. 

Even though another of my favorite phrases is: “Build a bridge and get over it.”  I’m not going to say that.  The fact is everyone goes through transitions differently. 

So, I’ll leave you with my most favorite phase of all: “BE KIND!”