6 Simple Ways to Cope Better with Big Life Changes
If you’ve gone through a big life change or upheaval before (although I mean, who hasn’t?), you’ll know that adjusting to a new reality can be somewhat challenging.
When we’re going through a life transition, for example — moving countries or cities, dealing with a job or career change, going through a break up or ending a long-term friendship, we can end up feeling totally lost.
This is, in my experience, because we really struggle when we have to give up an aspect of our identity, particularly ones that might form the very core of who we are.
Everyone defines themselves in a particular way— it might be that we define ourselves through the things we do, the people we associate with, or the goals we have.
Our identities are an amalgamation of different things, including everything from the college we went to, to our political beliefs, to where we shop for groceries.
Naturally, some features of our identities will be more important to us than others. As artist and writer Edward Gorey said,
“I am a person before I am anything else. I never say I am a writer. I never say I am an artist…I am a person who does those things.”
For some of us, though, our professions do form an important part of our identities.
