Breaking up is hard to do!

Smooth, smooth, smooth, BUMP, SHIFT, smooth, smooth, smooth BUMP, SHIFT. The rhythm of LIFE's journey just keeps rolling along. It would not be a surprise to say I like smooth times the best.

I tend to hang on to what's working. Grasping with all my might the horizon of the sunrise even as my feet dangle over the sunset When I let go it feels like a scene out of 2001:A Space Odyssey, I'm cast about untethered into the unknown, with lot's of 'stuff' coming at me from all sides.

The BUMPS come in my least guarded moments. Words either spoken within my hearing range or showing up in my reading; themes that repeat themselves until I can no longer deny that I am aware of them. The handwriting on the wall gets bigger, the nudges stronger, until I surrender and say I hear AND I am listening. The bump is my 'I hear you', the shift comes when I respond 'AND I'm listening'.

Sitting on the interrogation chair of self examination the questions are unrelenting. "Who am I in this new setting? What identity do I wear for this journey into the next phase of my life? What am I leaving behind; what am I taking on, what is the timing of my transition? How will I know this is the best move? Who will accompany me on this next Wisdom Walk?"

The path of college life was smooth, graduation a huge BUMP and the SHIFT predictable. Motherhood was smooth until the children became adults, the BUMP was when they no longer needed me, the SHIFT painful. Each career choice took me through Bump, Shift, smooth until it became boring, unsatisfying, a push off the cliff. The warning signs start inside, restlessness, desire for change, finding new stars to follow and are reflected on the outside by circumstantial change and sometimes forced decisions. When the questions squeeze upon me so hard that I implode from the pressure, the shift sends me tumbling through time and space.

And somewhere within that process I find the ribbon that promises SMOOTH lies just ahead. Breaking up IS hard to do. But if I don't go through it I may never find the next ribbon of SMOOTH inviting me to ride the wave of new discoveries, joy, satisfaction.

A snake that outgrows and molts its skin is my current symbol of transition. I'm molting, I'm molting!