“We need wisdom and courage to choose among hard choices.”
Chatib Basri (2020)
The transition phase is arguably a tough time to pass through. Despite the hardship, however, it gives many things to learn as well as moves subjects from one state to another. Not only in terms of business and economy but also human beings – physically and mentally – are experiencing transition phase during their lifetime. The transition phase that we would like to discuss here is particularly about an individual’s moving phase from teenage to adult. While choosing and making decisions is a regular task people facing in each day, nevertheless, doing so in the transition phase is rather a distinctive situation since there are plenty of factors, impacts and consequences that need to be considered wisely and carefully before making a choice.
The transition phase is often quite challenging. This is the time when an individual starts thinking deeply about himself, his identity, role, and integrity – a period when he keeps questioning everything. Question regarding the meaning of life, about righteousness and important decision to make in every situation, where will life bring him tomorrow, and so forth. It’s like both evaluating and planning time for someone before making choices and firmly taking steps and actions accordingly. In addition, this is also a period when individuals start prioritizing, organizing, and managing matters in their life.
Meanwhile, there is no specific lesson or curriculum taught in primary and secondary education to prepare individuals when they are facing this transition phase yet, despite it having a pivotal impact on someone’s life path. Thus, individuals have to learn by doing as well as getting insights from elders’ experiences to deal with the issue during the transitional phase. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that not all advice given and experiences shared by others need to be internalized entirely, yet it needs to be filtered to some relevant extent and adjusted to the individual-specific case. This is where someone’s way of thinking and making decisions plays a role. Commonly, there are two ways of individual’s decision making, namely rational and intuitive decision making. Each technique has advantages and drawbacks, which will further be discussed in the forthcoming article.
Furthermore, based on the writer’s observation and references study, the dilemmatic situation during the transition phase is common to happen among people who are moving from their teenagers to young adults due to changes in several aspects in their life e.g. role in family and society, responsibility, social relation, life purposes, self-existent and core values. It is to say that an individual needs to learn, adapt and improve himself according to his capability and unique internal attribute to get along with his new circumstance. The circumstance where he is now responsible at least for himself – his choices regarding career, relationship, financial, etc. The transition phase is such a portal for individuals from their previously systemized condition and bounded choices to the newly broad circumstance and infinite options where oftentimes leaving them overwhelmed.
Moreover, it is also important to note the generational difference as a pivotal factor since it determines someone’s value, perception, and response to his situation. For instance, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials generation differ in many life aspects such as core values, attributes, view toward work-life balance, work ethics, and so forth. This diversity could further give more pressure on someone from one generation – for example, a Millennial entering a new work environment with several Generation X’s – when he is still figuring out and solidifying himself, what he wants and what he does not. On the other hand, this should not be a significant obstacle for individuals who has convinced and solid with their choices.
Therefore, it is suggested for individuals struggling in this transition phase to put self-care (mindfulness) in the first place, find and keep their core values, and focus on each stuff and matter, and stop peeking on and self-comparing with others because simply everybody has this specific attribute that makes comparing someone’s life with others is irrelevant, and that is uniqueness. The concrete practices of the previous suggestions might vary among individuals due to the property of individual uniqueness, for instance, the core values and priorities of each individual are different and hence the concrete actions might also various for each person. Notwithstanding, once someone understands himself and sticks to his principles and fundamentals, it is less likely for him to get obscured, and thus it might be easier to self-solidify and deal with situation and choices during the transition phase.
During the striving time in the transition phase, perhaps Albert Camus’ words might help in alleviating the burden and reminding that there is always hope ahead. He said, “in the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”
P.S. This post is an introduction before the writer launches an article related to the topic regarding decision-making and generational differences. Hence, the topic would be discussed more comprehensively, profoundly, and elaborated in the forthcoming article.
hope. 