“The way is made by walking . . .” 

Our group's "powerful idea" was Transitions as a formative experience. 

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Change vs. Transition

Change is your move to a new city or your shift to a new job. It is the birth of your new baby or the death of your father. It is the switch from the old health plan at work to the new one, or the replacement of your manager by a new one, or it is the acquisition that your company just made. In other words, change is situational. 

Transition, on the other hand, is psychological. It is not those events but rather the inner reorientation and self-redefinition that you have to go through in order to incorporate any of those changes into your life. Without a transition, a change is just a rearrangement of the furniture. Unless transition happens, the change won't work, because it doesn't take. Whatever word we use, our society talks a lot about change, but it seldom deals with transition. Unfortunately for us, it is the transition that blindsides us and is often the source of our troubles.

What’s the Meaning of This?

To feel as though everything is up in the air, as one so often does during times of personal transition, is endurable if it means something— if it is part of a movement toward a desired end. But if it is not related to some larger and beneficial pattern, it simply becomes distressing.

Transition Can Be a Gateway to Growth

Transition [is] the natural process of disorientation and reorientation marking the turning points in the path of growth. Throughout nature, growth involves periodic accelerations and transformations: things go slowly for a time and nothing seems to happen-until suddenly the eggshell cracks, the branch blossoms, the tadpole's tail shrinks away, the leaf falls, the bird molts, or the hibernation begins. With us it is the same. Although the signs are less clear than in the world of feather and leaf, the functions of transition times are the same. They are key times in the natural process of development and self-renewal. 

The 3 Phases of Transition

Most personal transitions include (1) an ending, followed by (2) a period of confusion or distress, lostness or emptiness, leading to (3) a new beginning with intelligible patterns and directions. We drew upon the theory of William Bridges in our design of a 3-part exhibit. 

Circumstantial vs Personal Change

We feel these unexpected losses because, to an extent that we seldom realize, we come to identify ourselves with the circumstances of our lives. Who we think we are is partly defined by our roles and relationships, those we like as well as those we don't. But the bonds go deeper even than that. Our whole way of being the personal style that makes you recognizably "you" and me "me"— is developed within and adjusted to fit a given life pattern. 

What’s your style in bringing situations to a close?

Is it abrupt and designed to deny the impact of the change, or is it so slow and gradual that it is hard to see that anything important is happening? Do you tend to be active or passive in these terminal situations? That is, is it your initiative that brings things to term, or do events just happen to you?

What kinds of changes have you experienced?

We wanted people to make connections between their life experiences and our exhibit's "powerful idea" of Transitions, such as the topics listed below.  

Losses of relationships. What relationships have gone out of your life in the past year? List everything from a spouse's death to a friend's moving away. Include marital separations, children leaving home, or the alienation of a former friend. What about the death of a pet, or the loss of some admired hero, or anything that narrows your field of relationships?

Changes in home life. Getting married or having a child; having a spouse retire, becoming ill (or recovering), returning to school, changing jobs, or going into a depression; moving to a new house or remodeling the old one; experiencing increased (or decreased) domestic tension-anything that changed the content or quality of life in your home.

Personal changes. Getting sick (or well again); experiencing notable success (or failure); changing your eating habits, sleep patterns, sexual activities; starting or stopping school; markedly changing your lifestyle or your appearance.

Work and financial changes. Getting fired, retiring, or changing jobs; changes within your workplace; an increase or decrease in income ; taking on new loans or mortgages; discovering that career advancement is blocked.

Inner changes. 

Spiritual awakening, deepening social and political awareness, or psychological insights; changes in self-image or values; the discovery of a new dream or the abandonment of an old one; or simply one of those nameless shifts that cause you to say, "I'm changing.”

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