When Life Feels Like a Transition: How to Stay Grounded During Big Changes
Life transitions have a way of shaking the ground beneath us. Even when we’ve chosen the change, even when we’re excited for what’s coming next, transition can feel like living between two worlds. You are no longer who you were, yet not fully who you’re becoming. This threshold space can feel disorienting, tender, hopeful, and overwhelming all at the same time.
At Inward Motion Counseling Group, we support clients across Hawaii, Oregon, and throughout our virtual counseling services as they navigate these turning points. Whether it’s a relationship shift, a move, a career change, a new role, or a season of internal transformation, transitions challenge the mind, tug at the heart, and activate the nervous system in powerful ways.
Why Transitions Feel So Intense
Most people assume transitions are stressful because of the external changes. But in therapy, we often see that the deeper challenge is internal: your nervous system is adjusting to unfamiliar territory.
Even positive transitions can disrupt your sense of safety and familiarity. Here’s why:
Your brain is wired for predictability. Anything unknown, even good things, requires energy and adjustment.
Old patterns get activated. Change often stirs up past fears, beliefs, and survival strategies.
Your system feels the gap between “old you” and “new you.” This in-between space can feel unsteady, like standing on shifting sand.
Transitions ask you to grieve. You may be excited for what’s ahead, but you’re also leaving something behind.
When clients reach out for support, they often describe transitions as a fog, a swirl of emotions, or a feeling of being unanchored. They may say things like:
“I should be happy, but I feel anxious.”
“I’m overwhelmed and can’t explain why.”
“I know this change is good, but I feel off.”
“I feel like I don’t know who I am right now.”
These experiences are not signs of weakness or failure. They’re signs that your nervous system is doing its best to catch up with your life.
How to Stay Grounded Inside Transition
Grounding yourself doesn’t mean forcing clarity or moving faster. It means creating enough internal steadiness for your body and mind to settle so that you can move through change with presence and compassion.
Here are gentle ways to support yourself through transition:
1. Slow Your Pace So Your Body Can Integrate the Change
Transitions often activate urgency:
I need to figure everything out.
I should be further along by now.
I need to make all the right decisions.
But urgency is a reaction to uncertainty, not an indicator of truth.
Slowing down gives your nervous system time to process the change. Instead of pushing, ask yourself:
What would it look like to move 10% slower?
What do I need more: clarity or rest?
Is this decision urgent, or does it just feel urgent?
Often, clarity comes when we stop trying to force it.
2. Create a Transition Ritual
Humans have always used rituals to make sense of change. A small, intentional ritual can help you feel more grounded and conscious in the process.
Try:
Journaling at the same time each week
Lighting a candle to represent your shift
Practicing a grounding meditation or guided breathwork
Naming what you are releasing and welcoming
Rituals help your system understand: I am supported. I am not alone in this change.
3. Anchor Yourself in the Present Moment
When things are uncertain, your mind may obsess about the future or replay the past. Grounding practices help bring you back to the present, where calm and clarity live.
Try:
Placing both feet on the ground and feeling the support beneath you
Holding something with texture (a stone, fabric, cold glass)
Taking slow breaths with longer exhales
Naming five things you can see or feel
Grounding brings your body out of survival mode and into safety.
4. Give Yourself Permission Not to Have All the Answers
Many clients feel pressure to “hold it all together” during transitions. But expansion requires permission to be in-process.
Instead of forcing decisions, try asking gentler questions:
What do I need today, not forever?
What feels supportive right now?
What do I know for sure about what I want?
This creates space for answers to emerge naturally instead of through pressure.
5. Seek Supportive Spaces Where You Can Process Without Judgment
Transitions are easier when you’re not carrying them alone. Whether through community, relationships, or therapy, having a place to express your fears, hopes, grief, and excitement gives your nervous system room to breathe.
How Therapy Helps During Life Transitions
Working with a therapist—whether in-person in Oregon, online from Hawaii, or through our virtual counseling options—provides a grounded container to understand what your transition is asking of you.
Therapy can support you by:
Helping you regulate your nervous system
Exploring how your identity is evolving
Understanding the emotional waves of change
Untangling fear from intuition
Honoring what you’re leaving behind
Building tools for confidence and clarity
Creating a path forward that aligns with your values
You don’t need to navigate this threshold alone. Therapy offers a steady hand as you adjust, breathe, and begin to see the path ahead more clearly.
You Are Allowed to Move Slowly
You don’t owe the world an immediate transformation. You don’t need to have all the answers. You don’t need to rush into the next version of yourself.
You’re allowed to take your time.
You’re allowed to rest.
You’re allowed to be in transition without labeling it as a problem.
Change becomes more navigable when you’re supported, resourced, and not moving through it alone.
