When you are ready for a change: Transitions by William Bridges (summary)

Book covers: Transitions, What you are looking for is in the library

This book describes the general process of Transitions — consisting of an ending, a neutral zone, and a new beginning. In particular, the author introduces the neutral zone — the uncomfortable, empty, meaningless and seemingly endless state that we go through during big life changes— as a normal and necessary phase of Transitions.

It perfectly resonated with me as someone who’s been experiencing several major internal transitions in the past years and am in an almost trance-like neutral zone of my current transition. It also helps explain why holidays, and especially solo trips, are often so transformative: they ‘force’ a transition through artificially creating that neutral zone where we break from our normal routines and are asked to reassess our lives and listen to our inner voice.

How do we know we are ready for a new beginning? You bump into an old friend you haven’t seen in years and he told you about the job that just opened up in his company that morning; you met your spouse at a party you didn’t want to go to; you studied French because the Spanish class started at 8am; you happened to pick up the book that changed your life because it was the only one lying on your friend’s coffee table, and later you are astonished to find that you had tried to read it before but had put it aside as…