Life Transitions Counseling

Does Your Life Look Different Than You Thought It Would?

Do you ever feel like life hasn’t happened in the order it was supposed to? Maybe it seems like everything is moving too fast for you to keep up, as if life is happening without you. You may feel like a bystander in your own life. Perhaps you’re dealing with a breakup or divorce, job loss, infertility, empty nest syndrome, or the death of a loved one. As a result, maybe you look back on the hopes and dreams you once held dear, only to realize they’re incompatible with the life you lead now.

When you’re going through a major transition in life, it’s often hard to put a finger on why you’re struggling. Perhaps you tell yourself: Everyone goes through times of change, so why do I feel so anxious or miserable about it? Or maybe you’ve become overly self-critical, and you blame yourself for events in your life you have no control over. If so, the feeling that you have let yourself down can easily develop into a sense of low self-worth, depression, or anxiety.

If you want to maintain peace of mind through all the changes in your life, we encourage you to contact us. Together, we can help you adjust to your transitions and develop real-life coping skills to stay calm and grounded in the midst of them.

No One’s Life Follows A Perfectly Sequential Path

We tend to think of our lives in a neat, clean, predictable narrative—we go to school, graduate, get a job, get married, have kids—but life rarely follows this pattern in an orderly fashion. In truth, the human experience is often a messy one. It’s full of twists and turns and unforeseen interruptions. When looking at the dreams and goals we had ten years ago, few of us have the life we imagined for ourselves now.

Unfortunately, many of us feel like we’re the only ones whose lives haven’t turned out so neat or tidy. The world of social media often gives us an impression that everyone else’s lives are running smoothly. We see everyone else’s happy photos, beautiful families, and new job opportunities, and we feel ashamed to think that our lives are not like theirs. In reality, however, many of the same people we envy are probably struggling inside. They may be dealing with stressors we don’t know about.

What’s more, many of us are too embarrassed to share our sorrows with others. We often tell ourselves we can fight through the pain alone. You may tell yourself, I know what theproblem is, so I can figure it all at out by myself. Even if you know what the problem is, however, circumstances aren’t always under your control. Knowing the source of your distress doesn’t provide a magical cure for it.

Here at Monarch Family Counseling, we want to equip you with real-life coping skills to manage your emotions and face changes in your life with confidence and assurance.

Life Transitions Counseling Can Train You To Be The Calm In Your Own Storm

Let’s face it: we all like to pretend we have our lives under control. Over time, this façade gets exhausting. Life transitions counseling provides a time for you to let go of your need to control every detail of your life. Here, you can process where you are in life and explore your beliefs and values without any fear of judgment or the need to keep up appearances.

Whether you’re going through a midlife crisis, a breakup or divorce, retirement, career change, or chronic illness, our approach to counseling offers a relaxing, compassionate atmosphere for you to safely and honestly evaluate what’s going on inside you and what’s happening around you.

In sessions together, we’ll examine where your beliefs and values come from and how they’re affecting your emotional well-being. Along the way, we’ll help you develop real-life coping skills and calming strategies to help you make peace with yourself and deal with transitions in your life. The changes you’re experiencing are hard, and we don’t want you internalizing them and getting down on yourself. We want you to be your own calm in the storm—to feel empowered to grapple with life’s changes and remain resilient when they arise.

Our practice draws from a wide range of approaches to help you find peace and tranquility in your life. We utilize Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to examine the link between unhelpful thoughts and behaviors in your life. For the creatively-minded, we often bring in experiential interventions—such as expressive arts—to help you explore your core beliefs and values. If you’re struggling from unaddressed trauma, we may use Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. This approach will help you process any lingering emotional pain that stems from your past. We can also act as a sort of life coach to help you gain clarity, explore your options for overcoming challenges, and provide you with support in making healthy, informed decisions.

The only thing that’s consistent in life is change. And how we adapt to those changes often defines how safe, happy, and capable we feel in this world. Here at Monarch Family Counseling, our goal is to help you adapt to change smoothly and peacefully by learning to trust in yourself and your relationships.

You may have some questions about life transitions counseling…

I can deal with these changes on my own.

We all go through hard times in life. And while it’s tempting to try and handle it all ourselves, sometimes it’s good to seek help from someone who doesn’t have a biased opinion. Since we’re so emotionally invested in our own lives, it’s hard to form an objective view of what’s happening around us. That’s why having a compassionate professional who isn’t directly involved in your situation is so valuable—they can afford a fresh perspective that’s not always possible on your own.

People go through major life transitions all the time, so why should I be struggling?

This isn’t the Pain Olympics. Simply because you feel your struggles are common doesn’t make them illegitimate. Your pain is valid, and no one’s suffering is exactly alike. Oftentimes, what makes going through times of great change so difficult is not the change itself, but the lack of support or guidance we often face. In life transitions counseling, our goal is to offer support and guidance and help you carry your pain so that you don’t have to do it alone.

My problems will eventually pass, so I don’t think I need treatment.

Yes, the situations and external stressors that are bothering you will probably pass. Even so, they may cause you to internalize negative beliefs about yourself or fall into dysfunctional thought patterns. Life transitions counseling focuses less on the actual events that stress you out and more on how they affect you on an emotional level. We want to empower you to build emotional resilience so that you can maintain joy and peace of mind no matter what changes come your way.

Let Us Empower You With Clarity And Direction

If life-changing events have shaken your identity and made you question what you want in life, we’d be honored to help you figure things out. To contact us, you can email us, call the office at 801-349-9606, or message us on our website.

Right now, because of COVID-19, we provide both in-person and online life transitions counseling. We’re open to whichever option suits you best.