Can you feel it? Transitions are in the air. The summer is coming to a close. Fall is around the corner, and change is on its way. One transition signal I noticed on a recent walk was the appearance of these beautiful berries that start white and turn to blue and purple hues. Oh, yes. Fall is coming. The transition is happening.

How do you feel about transitions? Are you excited, optimistic, empowered, sad, scared, apprehensive, or overwhelmed? Change can be challenging. You let go or say goodbye to what was and move forward to something different. The ‘different’ could be an unknown, a new stage of life, or a smaller, seemingly insignificant change. Navigating transitions can be much easier when you get planning, implementing, and supporting help.

Here's the good news. Many people can provide support, including friends, family members, colleagues, or virtual professional organizers like me. Much of my work centers around helping people of all ages and stages during their life transitions.

9 Ways Organizers Can Help With Transitions

1. Resetting for the New Season

Can you enlist the help of an organizer to do a clothing edit and organization? As you store your spring/summer clothes and bring out your fall/winter ones, choose the items you will no longer wear and can release. Could you hire an organizer to support your decision-making and organizational ideas? Your seasonal clothing transition will go more smoothly.

2. Going Back to School

You had one pattern for the summer, but now it’s time for the kiddos to return to school. This is a transition time where habits and schedules change. An organizer can help you create great organizational systems that work for your family.

3. Becoming an Empty Nester

Perhaps going back to school means you’re now an empty nester. This is an enormous transition for both you and your kiddo. If you need help getting your college-bound kid organized to leave the nest or need help reorganizing your home and schedule now that your kid is out, enlist help from a professional organizer.

4. Becoming a Parent

When a new life arrives, everything changes. You will prepare emotionally and physically during this transition. You can use the services of an organizer to help create an organized space for your little one.

5. Changing a Relationship

Whether you are moving in with your partner, getting married, or divorced, these transitions can be stressful and complicated. There are emotional aspects to navigate. There are also scheduling and space transitions, which an organizer can be especially helpful with. Whether merging two households into one or dividing one home into two, it’s beneficial to have a non-judgmental, compassionate person to plan, organize, and navigate this transition.

“Transitions are an opportunity for growth, renewal, and possibilities.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

6. Moving and Downsizing

Moving and downsizing are significant transitions. This can be anxiety-producing, especially if you work with a tight deadline or do not want to move. There are many things to handle, even when your deadline is flexible, or you’ve purposely chosen the change. Hiring an organizer to help you plan, support your decisions, and share resources can ease the stress of these complex transitions.

7. Retiring

You worked a lifetime, and now you’re ready to stop. You’re used to being highly scheduled with less free time to pursue hobbies and friendships. As you transition into this new stage of life, consider what you want and no longer need. What can you let go of? What do you want to make space for? You can work with an organizer to figure out what ‘belongs’ now.

8. Experiencing Health Challenges

While you have your medical health professionals’ support team, an organizer can help with health-related transitions in many ways. Perhaps you need a system for documenting doctor visits, instructions, or medications. Maybe you need to reorganize space in your home, declutter, or create an unobstructed flow. Especially when you’re not feeling your best, having another person to support your transition and organizational needs can be helpful.

9. Losing a Loved One

When someone we love dies, life changes instantly. It doesn’t matter if it is expected or not. Loss is loss. Everyone grieves in their way. At a point when the grief fog lifts, you might feel ready to make changes, like rethinking the use of rooms or letting go of some of your loved one's belongings. This is a highly emotional time. Having an organizer to work with can help you honor your loved one’s possessions as you organize, let go, and move forward.

As Tom Stoppard said, “Every exit is an entry somewhere.” As you travel from where you are to where you are heading, don’t go it alone. Gather your team who will help, support, and be there as you navigate. Transitions are an opportunity for growth, renewal, and possibilities.

Are you going through a transition? Who is on your team? Do you want additional help? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.”

— Albert Einstein

We’re all at different stages with our families. Some of us have kids and others have none. Some have young and some have adult children. Some live close by while others live far away from our families. All families go through transitions and changes of varying magnitudes. There are marriages, births, divorces, moves and deaths. There are joyful times and challenging ones.

We don’t always notice the changes because we’re living them. Sometimes we feel the tumult and haven’t assimilated the movement these shifts create.

With the many changes our family has experienced in the last bunch of years including becoming empty nesters, family moving away, and loss of loved ones, my family has become even more essential for me.

I’m not only grateful for my family, but also realize how much they ground me. They play a significant role in helping me feel balanced. Whether my family is near or far, whether they are living or have passed on, they are part of me. They are with me wherever I go.

What brings balance to your life? Come join the conversation and share your thoughts.

On a recent family beach vacation in the Outer Banks, I was lying in the sand, looking up at the clouds. They were slowly shifting. The clouds weren’t moving quickly but undulating and reshaping themselves ever so slightly. As I watched them, my thoughts felt connected to their movement. It was the beginning of the vacation. I wasn’t relaxed yet. I, too, was slowly adjusting. I was attempting to let my motor slow down and just be. Like the clouds, I was in a transition.

Transitions can be easy or difficult. Many factors influence how we process them, such as temperament and attitude. Transitions can be successful, painful, or somewhere in between. While the transition I just described was about shifting from being in the busy mode to a relaxed state, we often find ourselves in other kinds of transitions. They include getting organized, having children, moving, changing jobs, becoming empty nesters, losing loved ones, and many other significant times.

Transitions usually make me uncomfortable. With my most recent, launching our youngest off to college, I’ve used many strategies to help me through this time of different. These concepts can be helpful for all types of transitions, and I’m happy to share them with you.

10 Ways to Navigate Successful Transitions

• Floating – Allow yourself time to wander without any pressure. Don’t make any radical decisions while in transition.

• Thinking – Indulge in your thoughts. Reminisce, future think, and go where the mind wants to go. It’s all about processing your thoughts, the positive and the negative.

• Feeling – Allow yourself to feel. Cry if you need to. Laugh if you want to. Don’t deny or hold back your feelings.

• Connecting – Communicate with others. Use all possible outlets such as email, telephone, texting, old-fashioned letter writing, or face-to-face contact. Extend yourself so that you’re not alone.

• Writing – I’ve always been a journal writer and am now a blogger. If you’re inclined, writing is another helpful way to process and document your thoughts.

• Being – It’s OK to just be without doing. Get rid of the “shoulds.” If you need a nap, take one. If you need fresh air, go for a walk. If you want quiet, sit. Remove any pressure. Listen to what feels right for you.

• Gathering – There’s nothing like spending time with the people you love. So, instead of retreating, get together with friends and family. Be around others, whether sharing a meal, listening to music, or dancing. Strengthen your relationships.

• Traveling – Getting away from your familiar environment, even briefly, is valuable on many levels. Travel experiences spark new ideas and remove us from the familiar. Allowing ourselves to enjoy these new environments and sights strengthens our confidence and sense of well-being.

• Thanking – Gratitude for what was and what can be is essential. Acknowledge all that there is to be thankful for – the people, places, and things.

• Opening – Be open to the possibilities. The life you knew has been altered by choice or the natural course of things. Life is now different. Keep your mind open to what might be and what you might want to invite into your life.

Are you in transition now? What strategies help you?