Who's Your Life Line?
It’s important to reach out to people when you are undergoing any change in your life.
Isolation is a sure fire way of prolonging transitional challenges. We were not meant to “Do Life” alone. We are social animals and we need people to help us to get through difficult or stressful periods. Your social network can be a source of strength and support—IF you choose them correctly.
The people that you allow into your inner circle during a transition must be people who believe in you implicitly. Ideally, these are the people who have demonstrated strong loyalty and support during your other life transitions. This is not the time to share your frustration, pain, sorrow, ideas, future plans with people who do not believe in you.
During a transition, you are likely to be your own worst critic and you may be filled with self doubt. You do not need others to feed into that. You need others to pull you out of that. You’ll need people who will tell you to “take it one day at a time”, who are generous with you and who believe that you have a unique purpose in your life.
Transitions can be planned or unplanned. I like to call the unplanned transitions “Lightening Bolts” because they shock us to the core and hit us with very little or no warning. These are not “bad” or “good”, just expected. Immediately after a transitional lightning bolt and certainly before an expected transition, I would recommend that you pull together a “personal” advisory board. This group of individuals may never actually sit down together like a business advisory board, but they are every bit as important.
My advisory board consists of people who have skills/information/experience that I don’t have. They have proved themselves to be awesome and generous people. They believe in me. Some are former colleagues, but most are friends, trainers/coach/therapist, church/spiritual group and family members. I’ve also added my financial planner and accountant into the mix. Together, they provide me with the emotional, spiritual, physical and professional support that I need to successfully navigate the transition.
You should not hesitate to reach out to mentors and support groups as needed. Mentors can provide great “been there done that” advice and groups can provide comraderie and promote friendships among people going through similar situations.
NEXT STEPS:
Make a list of all of the transitions you have gone through in the last 5 years. What worked and didn’t work for you? What advisory resources did you wish you had during your most recent transition?
Make a list of people who will populate your personal advisory board. Define how you will use them in a time of transition.
If you are missing an advisory function (ex. nutritionist or exercise buddy), identify who could serve that role.
