Career Transition – ๐๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ง-๐๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐๐๐ง ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ฉ๐ (4/7)
There is a phase of transition that nobody warns you about. You have already started to move โ but you have not yet arrived.
Your old identity no longer fits. The new one has not yet taken shape.
You feel neither here nor there. Not quite the person you were, not yet the person you are becoming.
This is not a sign that something has gone wrong. This is the nature of the transition itself.
We, French people, have a phrase for it: “๐ฅ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ ๐รด๐ญรฉ” โ the sidestep. The moment when you deliberately step out of automatic patterns to create space for something new.
But stepping out does not mean tuning out and this is where many professionals in this phase make one of two mistakes:
- They cling to the old โ staying comfortable in what no longer serves them, because at least it is familiar.
Or
- They rush toward the new, jumping prematurely into something just to escape the discomfort of not knowing.
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Both shortcuts cost you. There are no shortcuts to transition; it is instead a journey that might simply be not moving at the pace that you would like. But this in-between is not wasted time; it is where the real work happens.
Sitting with ambiguity. Letting the old version loosen its grip. Allowing the new version to emerge at its own pace.
This phase has a name in transition research: the neutral zone.
It is as uncomfortable as it is essential, and the goal is not to get through it faster, but to use it well.
โ What patterns are you stepping sideways out of right now?
