If you follow along with me on FB, you know transitions have been a theme the last few weeks. One thing that makes them doable is the punctuation at the end. (I was saddened when I learn that two spaces after a period was no longer proper grammatical style.) Ok, so I'll change metaphors.

The pause from one gear to the next is essential. In the car, it’s that momentary adjustment to alter the relationship between the speed or power output and the equipment it’s moving. I've taken my pause from the transition of moving my firstborn to another state. Not all of it was easy. It's tough for me to stop and catch up with myself. How about you? How do you handle your transitions?

I busy myself with renewing my home left unattended during my absence. Cleaning the accumulated dust and dog hair, making food, touching base with friends, not to mention handling the back up of mail. All of that is necessary for me to reclaim my space. It’s my virtual marking the corners of my home for roosting here. It’s this routine stuff that grounds me. None of it is “productive” in business, only in claiming space for myself.

No matter how much there is on the plate of productivity taking the pause to shift to a different place and time greases the gears for smoother progress.

Whether from the academic year to summertime activities, from home to a new place, from work to household, from single to married (or vice versa) or from having your loved one at your side to being separated by the mysteries of death, the pause is necessary. Take your foot off the gas and take the time to shift.

Our U.S. culture doesn’t support “the pause” so well. Advertisements fill in between segments of broadcasts or stories in print, social media is unceasing, traffic is congested. Where do we find the time and space to honor the switching from one place to another or seal the ending of something important? It’s got to be our own creation—rarely, if ever, is it provided for us. Yet, carving out the time to reorient ourselves to a new environment or different state of being is worth the effort.

Grinding the gears becomes too hot to bear if you press on too quickly. With endings there is a loss. While the loss may be welcome and/or necessary, feelings are always an accompaniment. Allow yourself the human experience of marking the end of something to make room for what's next.

What's next comes after the pause, the space, the shift. The more smoothly the gears shift, the more welcome the new. Sometimes it takes longer than other times. But always, it takes time. The Good News: Life refreshes after the pause.