Transitions

The beauty about Michigan is the four seasons. Each season having a starting point and an end, but also the transition in-between. Where it’s not quite yet over but it’s not quite the full next either. Those little bits, sometimes moving quickly or sometimes lasting for what feels like forever. Teaching us patience. 

Life is so full of these transition moments. From being a baby, to a child, a teen and then an adult. Different grades in school, ages, life events, etc. Some transitions move smoothly and some, well, not so much. I’ve been in a transitional phase that has had smaller transitions within it. Now we’re getting in an Inception moment, a dream within a dream, haha. 

My bigger transitional phase is getting sober back in January of 2024. A phase I am still very much in, getting sober. Because I don’t believe we ever GET sober, it’s a one day at a time program. And if you know what I’m talking about, you get it. For my fellow friends who might not understand that, it’s a saying we use in AA (Alcoholics Anonymous). 

But so in this process of getting sober, I’ve gone through the transition of my “old self” and coming into my “new self.” And through out that transition, there has been so many in between moments. The transition of jobs, friends, relationships, homes, etc. All of this to say, sometimes just like a season changing, there’s also smaller parts within it changing too. 

Getting sober has been hard, I tried multiple times for years. I’d like to say this time something is different, but I don’t want to be over confident. This is however, the most sobriety I’ve ever maintained since I ever had my first drink. So that’s something to celebrate! And at first just putting down the booze was the hard part. Now the hard part is dealing with my emotions, the reasons why I drank. 

We all have our demons, our shadows, things we’re not proud of, and things that are or were out of our control. Shame, guilt, grief, sadness. The list goes on. Emotions. They’re tough sometimes friends. And I know for me, for a long time, I didn’t want to face them or really didn’t even know how too. It wasn’t until I met the practice of yoga, and some other modalities, that I began to find the tools to sit in my discomfort. And let me just preface, I’m still no expert!

What yoga has taught me is the transition from pose to pose. And within that, the change in our breath. So a transition within a transition again. But also the transition of my yoga practice as a whole. From when I started, to where I am now. One of my favorite teachers and dear friends, Najee Robbins, always ends class with, “this is not the where practice begins or ends, but continues.” Meaning our practice is constantly unfolding. 

And just like Mother Nature and the seasons, they are forever unfolding. One season falls into the next and so on. As a new season is peering in, another slowly slipping away, leaving us in that middle ground, the transition. I enjoy the transition. It’s not the beginning or the end but where it all continues. Enjoy the transitions, the good, the bad, the easy and hard, and all the in betweens. 

As always friends, let me know your thoughts. I love to connect. :)

With lots of love and light,

Alyssa :)