Facing Life Transitions:  what support is available for you?  

By Fili Perdikaris - Psychologist
 
Life transitions are a part of our experiences throughout our lifespans and we can often find ourselves challenged and struggling to work out how to cope and move through these challenging events. Whether positive or negative, life transitions can be stressful as they require us to adapt to new circumstances including losses, changes to our physical or mental health, living arrangements or relationship break ups to name a few. Each set of life transitions present as opportunities to learn and grow, in an adjustment process that can re-define who we are in a new context and move forwards with growth and greater wisdom. 
 
Every life event presents some level of stress whether positive or negative as we attempt to make sense of new situations and identify the resources we have available to deal with these changed circumstances. A combination of our personality styles, internal strengths and external supports,   help us to move through life transitions. These are processes that may take varying lengths of time and can often become apparent 6 months or more after the life event occurs due to our delayed recognition of what may be happening at the time. All our psychological and emotional resources may initially be aimed towards survival or just functioning on a day to day basis before we can start processing the full impact of the life event and begin to unpack it in order to understand its relevance to us on a deeper level.
 
Much of the uncertainty of some life transitions involve the fact that circumstances that trigger them may be unpredictable. A break up, the loss of a loved one, unexpectedly needing to re-locate. These life events require us to reach down deep in our emotional ‘toolbox’ to gather internal resources to cope as well as external supports which may be known to us or require new connections. Even with life transitions where we think we are prepared, there may still be some emotional work that needs to be done in order to move to the next stage of growth and development. 
 
Life transitions can ultimately become opportunities for us to re-define our sense of self in a new and positive way. We can gain skills and resources through the process to move forwards in exciting and sometimes surprising directions. We often find that our lives gain more fulfillment and meaning during this process of transition and we often gain resilience and wisdom along the way. 
 
If you would like assistance for life transitions or other emotional issues in the form of psychological counselling please do not hesitate to contact:
 
FILI PERDIKARIS: PSYCHOLOGIST  
(Mb) 0448 355 551
www.filiperdikaris.com.au                                Medicare and Private Health Fund Rebates