Being in Limbo

I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but I absolutely hate transitional periods in life. It’s natural in a journey like life to spend a lot of time transitioning from one stage to another, yet there is a strong instinct in me (and I suspect in many humans) to feel settled. To arrive at a place.

The most difficult times in my life have been when I feel caught in-between life stages. When I haven’t had a consistent home (college years) or the beginning stages of dating someone when you don’t yet know where you’re heading. I hate that feeling!

I tend to try to get through those transitions as quickly as possible. Which is pretty much the opposite of the Hindu principle of living in the moment and being present. I want to fast forward over the uncertainties, sleep through the journey and arrive at the destination

wake me up when it’s all over

Which is terrible. It means missing most of your life. We have these precious short lives and I’m wasting big portions of mine trying to race to the next part. “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” -Attributed to John Lennon (apparently the saying dates to before him)

I find myself now in one of these transition periods as I wait to get pregnant and start the parent segment of my current life. Particularly during the two week wait (the time between ovulating/possible conception and the point at which a pregnancy would show up on a test) I want to be able to shut myself off during that time and come back when it’s time to test. And my body is actually pretty effective at doing that. I’m a stress sleeper.

When I’m feeling that urge to fast forward through something in life, my body tends to get extremely fatigued and I end up sleeping almost constantly. It’s a terrible habit.

I don’t know how to live these portions of my life and stay awake for them. This is the very stuff life is made of! I shouldn’t be trying to miss it all.

Do you have any suggestions for how to deal with times of transition and limbo?