Identity Transition
Posted on May 19, 2010 by Diana Rosen, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
Identity Transition occurs when we go through a life change that forces us to adapt to different life situations, such as divorce, career change.
IDENTITY TRANSITION
It is somewhat difficult for people to find meaning in life unless they have a clear and favorable identity. We must see ourselves as a specific type of person in our social, work and personal relationships. Without this secure sense of self, we cannot know who we are, what we stand for or where we are going. This is particularly true whenever we encounter a period of change. When a woman has been married for a long time and divorces, she may feel confused, as to her role in her social community. The sudden breakup of her marriage presents a break up of her world as she knows it, the loss of all that gave her identity, the end her safety net.During our lives there are various stages of development, from home to kindergarten, from kindergarten to elementary school, then to high school and to college. Those who are prepared for it make a healthy identity transition, otherwise show identity confusion. Some transitions call on people to change some of their values and with them their style of life. In each of the transitions that people make, they must be in tune to their emerging selves. They ally themselves with those parts of their changing selves with which they can be most effective and creative, giving up those they have outgrown. During marriage, women acquire certain roles, they may have to shed them after the breakup of their marriage.
Identity transition obligates a person to take on the risk of fitting into a new place, a different way, an activity, a role or a relationship that will make life more meaningful. Women who are insecure will most likely fear identity transition; there is some reluctance on their part to take on a new role. Acquiring or reestablishing her own identity may involve a great deal of learning about herself. During a woman’s transition from married to an unmarried person, she will retain some of her former identity and acquire skills to make the transition to her new roles. We tend to keep some our former identities through change. If women do not retain some parts of their former identities, their behavior will deviate from the values and goals to which they would like to adhere. Conflict blocks their capacity to act consistently; they will feel a loss of them-selves, confusion will set in and troubling behavior will run havoc with their lives.Women cling to a broken story, precisely because they are the only stories they know….the only one they can imagine themselves living.
