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How Do You Think About Business At A Time Like This?

By on March 29, 2020
SW mag image Transition

By Crystal Andrus Morissette

We’re all at least a few weeks into this new way of living in the world–self-quarantine, social distancing, fear of being infected, and fear for our loved ones.

I told my students from the S.W.A.T. Institute this week during our live + interactive video classes (the same way we’ve been offering them for years 😉 ) that life as we know it will never be the same again and we must grieve this loss.

As a world, right now, we must allow ourselves to transition into what will be. We must face our fears. And then, we must create something new. But to do this, we must understand how to transition through these changes in a healthy way.

In coaching, we encounter both changes and transitions. Transitions are about crossing over from something old and familiar into something new and unknown. According to William Bridges, author of the best-seller called Transitions, all transitions are composed of three stages:

  1. An ending (Grief)
  2. The neutral zone (Fear)
  3. A new beginning (Desire)

Every transition has to begin with an ending. Endings happen once we recognize how “stuck” we feel — helpless, incapable of doing what we want to do, unable to figure out how to make the changes we so desperately want, unable to socialize, run our businesses as usual, leave our damn homes! We blame. We point the finger out there. And the truth is, this is normal. But for us to become more empowered and to rise through this place of ‘stuck’ we must transition into grief.

Grief allows ourselves to realize that what was will never be again; what we wanted, how we wanted it will never be. We need to shed the old skin before growing a new one.

This may sound trivial, but being part of the Western culture makes it hard for us to know how to handle endings. How could we – if we are taught to praise the new, the fresh, the birth of a baby, the new promotion? In other words, we are encouraged to worship beginnings, while completely ignoring the endings. We don’t want to dwell on loss, grief, or death, and we certainly don’t want to talk about it. We want to put our past behind and let bygones be bygones.

But here is the thing – an ending that we have not acknowledged will always make it impossible for us to truly move on. And because every ending involves loss to one degree or another, transitions will always involve grief.

But allowing ourselves to let go of what was, means we will naturally shift into the Neutral Zone or what I call ‘fear.’

Fear feels like no man’s land, between the old and the new, a period of confusion, disorientation, and emptiness when we have not fully let go of the past, but we are not entirely connected to the “new” yet, either. It’s anxiety-provoking. I understand.

And once again, we Westerners find it extremely difficult to stay in this emptiness. This SELF-ISOLATION. We hate being still.

We want to replace the missing and fill in the void immediately. We want to move on! And even if we allow ourselves to tune in to this emptiness, we start to feel unproductive, like we are wasting our time. We’re going stir-crazy. Cabin-fever.

But what is really happening is that you are losing your old ways of defining yourself. Maybe you’re even letting go of something you always believed or assumed about yourself?

The good news? A new beginning is coming, very soon.

If you need support with this, we offer free Mentorship Empowerment Coaching at my school. Click here.

Perhaps, this is the time for you to sit in this stillness, to dream of what you want moving forward, to let go of what was, and to know that life will always find a way. You will be okay. We will all be okay.

Throughout my many years of teaching and writing books, I’m often reminded of the line in the movie Jurassic Park,

“If there’s one thing the history of evolution has taught us, it’s that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories, and crashes through barriers painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, uh, well, there it is. Life always finds a way.”

Find your way, my friend. Grieve your losses. Move through this neutral zone and create your new beginning. This is your time! Don’t fear. Instead, transition!

Again, if you need support with this, we offer free Mentorship Empowerment Coaching at my school. Click here.


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Crystal Andrus Morissette, Founder

CrystalFounder2

From life as a homeless teen to coaching A-List celebrities, from having abs of steel and the Miss Galaxy to weighing over 200 pounds after having babies, Emotional Age and Communication Expert Crystal Andrus Morissette is a worldwide leader in the field of self-discovery and personal transformation. A media darling, she has been featured numerous times on Oprah.com, the New York Post, Fox TV, the Daily Mail, CBS Radio, CTV, CityTV, Global TV, Slice TV, the Globe and Mail, and the Toronto Star. Crystal is the founder of the S.W.A.T. Institute (Simply Woman Accredited Trainer), an empowerment coach certification exclusively for women that she created with fellow female visionaries Louise Hay, Marianne Williamson, Dr Christiane Northrup, Colette Baron-Reid, and Sandra Anne Taylor among others. Established in 2009, the S.W.A.T. Institute is now in over 30 countries.

Crystal is the author of five best-selling books, including her latest release entitled, “Simply…Woman: Stories from 30 magnificent women who have risen against the odds!” She is also certified in nutrition, sports medicine, and yoga.

Crystal’s message of resilience, strength, and inner power has allowed her to grace the stage with speakers such as Dr. Phil, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Naomi Judd, Suze Orman, Marianne Williamson, Louise Hay, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Joan Borysenko, Debbie Ford, Sarah Ferguson—Duchess of York, and many more. Crystal has coached women from all walks of life including A-list celebrities, best-selling authors, scientists, doctors, dentists, and lawyers to stay-at-home moms and struggling teens. Her passion is to get down in the trenches and help people become the (s)heroes of their own lives.

www.crystalandrusmorissette.com | www.swatinstitute.com | www.SimplyWomanPublishing.com

 

 

 

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