The Truth About One Door Closing and Another Door Opening
An infamous quote reads: “When one door closes, another door opens.” From my perspective, a more accurate quote might be: “When one door closes, another door opens. But it’s hell being in the hallway.”
For some of us, the hallway is nothing more than something to get through to reach the next door. For others, the hallway is a very disorienting place to be. We are not who we were before, yet we are not who we’re going to be either. Therein lies the personal hell--that period of time where we may feel lost, frightened of the unknown and confused. Suddenly, our lives don't seem in our control.
We are in a transitional state.
Fortunately, there’s more than one way to look at transition. Using that uncomfortable hallway as a metaphor, let's redefine it as an opportunity for growth.
The hallway is that breakdown or interruption when life doesn’t go according to plan. But, if we’re willing to be in this “in between” space, we have an opening to see something we haven’t seen before. This takes shifting from habit to presence so we can awaken to other possibilities.
We should make the distinction that change and transition are two different things.
Changes are driven to reach a goal, but transitions start with letting go of what no longer fits or serves us. A lasting transition requires an internal psychological shift, where we are significantly different from what and who we were before. The hallway is our opportunity to figure out what exactly doesn’t fit or serve us any longer. Only after this process, can we make a successful ending so that a healthy, new beginning may emerge.
Guidance if you find yourself navigating the hallway:
1. Will you allow yourself to feel the pain, the emotion, or the discomfort?
2. Will you seek support and take care of your basic needs? If not, what is getting in the way?
3. Can you stop long enough to notice what else is in the hallway?
4. How will you know when you have made a transition and not just a change?
