Jodi was unexpectedly fired from her job. Henry just got divorced. Tara is a proud parent of her new baby. John just retired from his 30 year career. While our everyday lives tend to fall into predictable patterns, life mixes it up from time to time. Like Jodi, the unexpected happens, or like Henry, Tara, and John, while there are no surprises, new challenges are still likely to arise that can’t be predicted.

Between the closing of one chapter—the job, the marriage, the singlehood, or the career—and the firm landing into a new one, comes a transition zone: an emotional gray zone between the old and familiar and the new and unknown.

Here are some of the common reactions and challenges of transitions:

While a transition certainly brings about changes in tasks and priorities, it is also often about

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