Trapeze Trajectory

When you are going through change there is one sure thing, nothing is sound. I have found going through a Major life change that even the most stable parts of life can feel a bit unstable. The metaphor I like to use is that of a trapeze acrobat. You are up above the floor of the big top tent with no net below you. You are on your stable platform with the bar in your hand looking across a vast empty space. You have a destination on the other side but it seems very far away. You know the only way to get to that next spot is to leave the solid platform and swing way out on the bar in your hands.

Step 1: Stepping off the platform
Step 2: Swinging out looking for the next bar to grab on to. You may have someone on that bar coaching you to let go, the bar may be empty waiting for you to grab on
Step 3: Before you can grab the next bar you have to let go of the bar that is carrying you, a big move
Step 4: You are now in what I call the middle ground. You are hanging in mid air having to let go of what you know before you can grab what will carry you forward. This is the scariest and most uncertain part of change and most people going through change will blink right now and miss the next bar coming to them. This middle ground feels like an eternity but having patience and going through the time in mid-air is crucial to make real change.
Step 5: Grabbing the next bar is a feeling of security and feeling that normalization is coming back. Grabbing the bar or having someone on that bar to catch you are both good because not the new goal comes clearly into view. You see your new spot of greater stability.
Step 6: The landing on the platform on the opposite pole of the big top bring an applause from your own inner voice as you look back at where you came from. You may not have wanted to leave your last platform yet the change you made has brought you to a new place to live your life and a new view to see the world.

Going through all the steps is important. Hanging in the middle place is the place where we can accept that change is happening and that I can move forward. Keep focused and know that there is always another bar to grab, you may not believe it yet that new bar will come.