The Transition I Can’t Coach, or can I?

Yes, I’m a Transitions Coach. I am also a Mother of 3.

I spend a lot of my working life alongside people who are navigating change – helping them make sense of what is ending, what might be beginning, and who they are becoming in between.

And then life reminds me that knowing about transitions and actually living them are two very different things.

My eldest teenage daughter is about to start college.

Recently, we found ourselves sitting together in silence.

Normally, I have questions. I ask the kind of questions that might help someone see something differently, understand themselves a little better, or take a step forward.

But I’ve noticed my questions aren’t particularly welcome here.

Noticing is also what I do.

So I notice that this isn’t the moment to ask anything.

I listen.

But no words are being shared.

So I listen with my whole self.

And I stay present. That’s also what I do.

I sit beside her.

And feel all the feels.

I allow myself to feel the pride in who she is becoming.
I allow myself to feel excited for what lies ahead.
I fight the feelings of uncertainty that try to dominate my fierce desire for her to step confidently into her own life.

And, if I’m truthful, allow myself to feel the little ache for the version of ours that is quietly ending.

That’s the strange thing about transition.

We can desperately want what comes next and still grieve what we are leaving behind.

Both can be true.

Perhaps that is what I am learning in this transition.

Not every in-between space needs to be filled with words.

Not every uncertainty needs a solution.

Not every person we love needs us to show them the way across.

Sometimes our job is simply to sit beside them while they find their own way.

No fixing.
No coaching.
No rushing towards what comes next.

Just being there.

I may be a Transitions Coach, but transitions are still teaching me too.

And right now, one of my greatest teachers is my teenage daughter.

Sometimes the most important thing we can do in a transition is not to move.

It is to sit in the awkward in-between for a while.

And feel all the feels.

I invite you to take a moment to reflect

1. What transition are you — or someone you love — living through right now, and what feelings are sitting alongside each other?
2. Where might you be trying to fix, question or move things forward when what’s really needed is simply your presence?
3. What would it look like to trust the in-between – without needing to know, yet, what comes next?

I’m Sarah Cretegny, an Accredited Transitions Coach. I help individuals, groups and teams navigate real-life transitions without losing themselves.

I’m particularly effective when time is limited and the stakes are high. I draw on evidence-based coaching approaches, strengths expertise and my lived experience of leadership, family life and international living.

I’m passionate about partnering with people to Coach their wild — because the world needs more radically authentic leaders, now more than ever.

Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, I coach virtually around the world.

Find my links: https://linktr.ee/discover.your.wild