We were designed to create but what does that look like in the hard places of transition? Hey, everybody, thanks for tuning in to navigate. The vision I have for this show is to encourage and resource all you listeners out there who are facing some kind of transition, whether that be
personal or professional. And if I haven't hit on a topic yet, something transistor related that you'd really like to engage with, would you reach out and let me know I'd love to hear from you get your feedback, get your input, so we can approach this important part of life from every angle possible. That being said, I think you're gonna hear some things today that we haven't touched on yet. Transitions can be packed full of creative moments and
opportunities. Today, we'll be having a conversation with Sarah Simons as she talks about creating new and transition
seasons. Sarah, together with her husband, Jeff and two children have resided in Malaga, Spain for the past seven years, Sarah has spent the last 10 years working as a cross cultural transitions coach, and before that, seven years working for young life ministries, both stateside and in England, Sarah has her own coaching practice called the way between where she creates resources and workshops, using life planning tools, art
and movement. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master's in Intercultural Studies, and coaching certification. She loves to come alongside global workers in difficult transitions, helping them discover and co create their unique path forward, especially if it can be done in nature, or while traveling. If you're in any kind of transition, there's some real opportunity here for some perspective, shift and just some great encouragement for our
listeners today. So listen in as Sarah and I talk about creating new in transition. Thanks so much for joining me today, Sarah.
Thanks for having me. I'm excited about this conversation.
Yeah, so am I and you know, it's really cool, because we just recently met. And, and discovered that we have a lot in common just in terms of what we're what we're passionate about and and the coaching world, and that we've been a part of, and how we integrate that into our, our, our ministries and the things we do. So I'm really I'm really excited too. So just kind of, maybe we can just open it up. Tell me, where do you live now?
Yes, my husband and myself and our two children live in Malaga, Spain. And we've lived here for the last almost seven years.
Very cool. So the last seven years and how so that's obviously, you've lived in Spanish culture for quite a while. Where did you live before that? Are there? What are some other places you've lived?
Yes, good question. I've lived a bunch of places before that was California. And that to a lot of Spaniards is the most interesting. So I say I'm from California. Yeah. No, I grew up in Minnesota. And I've also lived in England and Colorado and Portland. Different places. Yeah.
Yeah. So why is that? Why is that? Why is California? Why does that strike a chord in Spanish culture? When you tell people that you're from California, or you've lived in California?
Yeah, it's really relatable for people. Yeah, often will say to me, it looks a lot like here. Why did you leave? Wow, California, we know so much about it from TV or the movies. And so they just are really interested in it. And okay, it sparks a conversation. And they might say, I've never met anybody from California. That's amazing. Why did you come here?
Yeah, yeah. Well, my wife and I just, I haven't done this. I haven't spent too much time. You know, it's so funny because we lived overseas for 20 plus years. And so we always kind of get a get a chuckle out of the fact that I know very little of California history compared to what I know about Central Asia, for example. So I'm in it. It's been a steep learning curve for me. And yeah, we've visited visited a, one of the Spanish, you know, the missions that are throughout
California. And that, that was very cool. And I thought I could I could do this. I could, you know, I would love to see more of that and just kind of a big piece of our history here.
Right, yeah, California is I'm really amazing and has so much to offer. Spain and California have a lot in common, really.
Yeah. So how has Spanish culture impacted or changed you? Seven years is a good amount of time.
Yeah, my daughter was born here, my five year old daughter was born here. And my son and daughter both are really fluent Spanish speakers and pretty much Spanish at heart. And so it's it's impacted our family to a great degree. Yeah, and this is all they've really ever known of home. And so, for us, this is where we have been raising children and where our family calls home currently, and where my kids will likely consider home. So Spanish culture, in particular, very
warm and welcoming people. And we've just really felt embraced by the people, the culture. Our language is always ongoing in the learning category. So we feel like that's always a stretch for us, because we work in English. But we believe probably the biggest impact for us is the invitation to rest and just the culture of what they call, kilo. tranquillity. So they often our friends will say john kilos data thrown keela, which means just relax, it's
okay. And so that for us has been very welcoming, and just a different pace of life and welcomes and invites us to. Yeah, you know what it actually will be okay.
That's great. Yeah. So in that rest, allows for a greater depth of relationships, I'm sure and taking time for people and all of that, which so many cultures seem to be better at them than we are, I think.
Yeah. When somebody says, Yes, they're gonna be there. They really commit to four or five hours. You don't know the time. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So you don't really plan in two or three different events on the same day, and you really get a commitment, but then you might not see people for a few weeks because of that either.
So you mentioned rest. I'm thinking that will probably come into our conversation at some point. Today. So tell me a little bit about what you do from a work ministry perspective.
Yeah, from a work ministry perspective, I say I help people create their way out of stuckness, especially in transition. And so I offer creative, holistic life planning for global workers in transition, and come alongside of them to utilize their whole brain and offer some right brain tools both in art and in movements. But at the bottom bottom line is I help people create their way out of stuckness.
Okay, so th se are some those are that un ack that a little bit for me, because you threw in a few prett power packed words. They're olistic, creative. What else
Yeah, well, let m let me back up just a minut . I will say, in my own recen transition, I experienced a lot of confusion and feelings of st ckness. And I knew that the p ace in position I was in my ro e that I was in needed to chang . I wasn't thriving or utili ing my gifts to the fulle t at the time, despite havin worked with people in trans tion for about 10 years. Okay, so here I am needing to reall live out what I believe, right This is what we get invit
d to all the time. So I felt ike I really didn't know what as next. So I didn't feel suppo ted to pursue that neces arily. So where I could norma ly think of my way out of a com licated situation, or reall process hard enough to figur something out. I really could 't do that in this situa ion. And so I came up short And so for me, what I kept eaning into, and I felt the i vitation to lean into was more aily being present, and reall right brained type of activ
ties. And when I say that, I mea , then non logical, non linea type of access to our brain And so it's more of the creat ve side of our brain. And so I ould say quite a bit about that, but that was For me in my own r cent transition, my invit tion to how to engage and how t really bring in the the integ ation of my whole self into nto transition. And that's what had been doing to some degre
with people. But man when you l ve it out right there, surel you experience it and, and i 's a completely different ballg me and you go from what could be anxiety producing. And I did I experienced a ton of anxie y, panic attacks, even claus rophobia, I'd never exper enced that before. Because I was just really paralyzed in a lot o
ways emotionally. But when would take myself out of the b ain processing, overt inking, and really get into y body or get into my, my heart it was a completely diffe ent experience of proce sing from the overwhelming to th Yeah, creating, creating somet ing into creation.
And yeah, there s that there's that in a big ransition, whether that's maybe an internal transition tha 's going on, you're not rea ly sure how that's gonna p ay out externally. wh ch often, which often is the b ginning of big transitions, o some or some place we feel
tuck. What I hear you saying is hat, from first kind of that t at whole creative side, the righ brain piece, that whole are , kind of broke you out, focus ng on some of that getting i touch with the body as well, nd just kind of engaging those parts of ourselves that are, we may not default to nor ally, that that is an area tha you've seen for yourself. And ow as you're helping others kind of come out of an area of tuckness. A place of stuckness.
es, exactly. Exactly. That' great. So we love to kind o talk more about that. But what just what do you love about wha what you do? What do you lo e about this area of coming alon side others? In this way?
Yeah, I love seeing people thrive, and I love watching them really in get into their sweet spots. I love seeing people tap into who it is that God created them to be. I think it's so cool as creative people that we were created to be that we get to access the Creator. And for me, I just am in awe that we were the only thing that he created in his image, but also that he created with an imagination or he created with the ability to, to co create.
Yeah, and so for me, I just love watching people co create, I love watching people come up with some new insight or some new way of approaching a complex problem. Okay. And living living into their unique signature or their unique fingerprint in the world. That Yeah, that's, that's what I that's what I feel like I'm supposed to be doing.
Yeah,. And so i the global community, glob l workers missionaries. You know sometimes I think maybe peop e come with the assumption that well, they're they're ther . They've answered the call you know, they've got they must be in their sweet spot. Just kind of that assumption, but s that necessarily true?
Yeah, that's a great question. I think the answ r is probably yes. And no. The have answered it to some exten , but maybe their unique tak on what it is that they're bei g introduced to, or invited t has not been flourished or is 't blossoming yet. Yeah. And I often think that creative pr cess is about us, either utili ing other people's creativ ty, or maybe a creative some wa that we've been creative in the past, or that we're even estroying and not creating new
new things. And so we get, that' where I think we get stuck whe e we were just hanging on to an idea from maybe 10 or 15 years a o. And we're not necessarily reating new and so I do think th t global workers have thi invitation and they think okay, I said yes to the call 10 or 1 years ago, how come it's not wo king now. Yeah. And that's, that s where, you know, you and I robably meet people similarly in that and we see them burning out right, because they're ot operating in their best gifte
ness set. Yeah. And so That we w get this opportunity to c me alongside of them and say, Oh we you know, let us help you ot burn out, we want to help you create, we want to help you thri e want to help you. I like to h lp people think outside the box. How do we, how do we come along ide of that? If they're called t something specific, then m ybe it's just another tweak on that? Yeah, or maybe it's a com letely different in, li e, merging of a concept with som thing that they're already oing.
yeah, and I think, you know, just from hearing your, you know, your, your story a little bit and, and, really that that same goes for me in terms of, I did feel stuck, you know, I wasn't ready to just lay down call as, as a global worker, and to just say, goodbye to all those years invested. But I did, I did come to a place where I was like, This isn't working anymore, there's something else, right. And I needed to discover that I needed and the Lord, you know, set me on a journey of
discovery. Some of those creative pieces did come in for me, revived or renewed in my life, maybe that I left had kind of neglected or left dormant like writing, you know, in some of those things. So yeah, so I can certainly really relate to that. And I'm sure that a lot of listeners out there can can relate to that as well. And even if they're in a, if they are in an area of stuckness, there are, you know, where I think we would agree there are resources or
support out there. For you to get in touch with that piece. And to begin to at least start the journey of discovery. What could that what could that shift or change look like? And and all of that. So, yeah, yeah, definitely. So tell me, you mentioned you kind of alluded to it. So maybe you won't you want to add something to this. But tell me about one of the most challenging transitions, you've navigated?
Yeah, so I was recently in probably one of the most challenging transitions, I feel like most of my transitions haven't been very easy. So I think that that's God's way of nudging me to say, keep keep at it, Sarah, keep going. And and every one of these I'm going to use and use it to help you
better understand others. But yeah, my recent transition was definitely one of the hardest, I would probably call it my, my dark night of the soul as well, and just not feeling fulfilled and not feeling like I was really thriving. But as global workers, it's much more complex than that. Because like I said, My family is involved, my kids are involved, are, it's not just a matter of one role shift. It's a matter of multiple complicated
implications of one decision. So that made it really stuck feeling for me, where my husband and I do really similar work. And we started looking at what might it look like where we're not doing similar work for a little while. And that that was confusing for us. But also, that's what we believe in how we live that we have unique identities and callings. And, and so how do we live that out? And what does that look like? And so that was a few years ago, we're still living into that.
And still working out what it looks like, even on a daily, weekly, monthly basis.
Yeah. So what 'm hearing you say is that kin of maybe in the earlier arlier years of life and mini try, you guys can had kind of ollaborated, worked more tog ther on on, on projects and mini try, related things, but ther was the transition has kind of
nvolved this. Well, there's uniqueness and a giftedne s that we each brain, you know we do bring together to the t ble, obviously, but also, is there some area that you know some areas that we would be better off serving, you know, se arately in areas and explorin those areas of unique giftedne s and how the Lord wants to use us as individuals in those areas. So has that been? Ha that been an ongoing process f just figuring that out? Bec use I know that kind of we had t
at, too. Like, in the early da s when we were in Central sia, my wife and I worked c osely in a lot of areas, b t then we discovered that wel in this culture, men, you know men often work mostly with men and women mostly work with wom n. And so we discovered that We ad to kind of do our separate things, you know, in order to fully, you know, embrace hat, you know, culture, but also the things God had for us. And o that was a that was a big shif for us too.
Yeah, defi itely. And for us, it's inte esting, we both have, as you entioned, in my bio, the same degrees. So we have the same bachelor's as a Master's. And e both are coaches. And so we i onically have the exact same titles of all time, and whic is unusual, and maybe some woul call in mesh, but it's not mean to be that. So we are just cont nue to find ourselves in simi ar likeness of work because of o r history and our expe ience and our background of educ
tion. And so here we are now t this point in life, but also at this season in life. When I have younger children. I said that five and nine year old, and just finding that the expr ssion of that work looks diff rent in this season.
The expression. Yeah. I like that. And yeah, there are certainly seasons and those seasons, the expression of how we how we go about serving and fulfilling our roles can can take on it a different shapes and, and forms and during those times. So right. Yeah. So are you you mentioned the creative piece. Are you naturally creative and artistic? And if so, in what way?
I love that question. I have lived my life not thinking I was creative. I have a super creative sister that I've always compared myself to. She's 18 months older than me. And she had the best ideas when we were growing up. And she would come up with an idea, like, let's have a skating party and invite all the kids in the neighborhood. And we'll charge 25 cents for them to come. And we'll give them this and that and we'll create this and that. And I was along for the ride.
And I'm one of five, I'm the middle child of five kids. And so I I kind of was along for the ride. And yet, I have come to learn and discover I actually call myself now a creative catalyst. And I think that was probably my role with my sister as well. And seeing I really would support her. And I would say, Yes, I'm here alongside of you with that. And I call myself an idea person as well. That's probably one of my top strengths that God has given me. And so I'm more of a creative thinker.
And the way that I live that out has been intention, it's been hard to reconcile that. Do I call myself an artist? What type of art do I create? What is my medium? And so that's something I've wrestled with, as well as an adult. I my husband is also extremely creative. And he'll often say to me, you know, this, this came about because it was your idea, actually. And and I think, oh, catalyst piece there. Yeah, exactly. So I, I believe we're all created creative
people. And yet, we have to wrestle with what does that look like, as an artist in our everyday life? And so, yeah, so to answer your question, I, I do believe God created me creative and probably always was creative. And yet the way that it looked in form and shape was probably different than what I would have chosen. And yet now I'm living it out in a in a really fun come alongside.
You are. Yeah. And I love just kind of the c ntrast between you know, what ou said, you know, growing up ye rs, being a middle child, and y u said I was kind of alway along for the ride. So go be go ng from along for the along for the ride to creative catal st. that's a that's a, that' a cool, just picture there you know, to me, to be a creat ve catalyst, you know, and to se that creative piece come out i yourself, but also to be an id a person to help others in that ourney.
And I would add to that, too, one of the most fulfilling parts of what I'm doing now has been to create spaces for people to create. And so coming out of my own tough transition, I entered into a sabbatical and from that time, it was really this unique opportunity to to meet with God. And just to be Like in this kind of angsty place of what do I do now and lots of questions, but
I, I rested. And I played. And I came back to reevaluate, and so that that's what I, I believe everybody should do in, in transition to utilize their creativity. And I can talk more about that. But I felt like one of the things that came from my transition was this beautiful opportunity to create some new things, some new ways of transition. And so that was just this really fun discovery for me, that came from it.
That's cool And so yeah, I often also alk about with people, I c ach going through transition nd stuff about the potential f r creative moments and opportu ity, in seasons of change. So here's the creative moments, th re's the creative opportuniti s. And I hear you saying the ame thing. In that, definitely. It's, it's a focus of what you do. So what does that look l ke? Okay, someone you want to help someone create space in th ir transition journey? Or
maybe maybe not only? I'm n t assuming it's only transition hey're dealing with, maybe they ust need to rest. But what wh t are some things that you do to, to help that process unf ld? Facilitate that?
Yeah. So I would, I would suggest what I was just alluding to, first of all, to rest, you and I probably come up against some of the same barriers for people that they are just like in this go mode, and that they don't even know what's going on inside of them. And so people often will come to me and is in this place of burnout or, and that's familiar territory. For me too. I burned out my adrenal glands three
times. And that's not something I'm proud of, it's really something that I've had to be aware of and say, This is my release of control and my invitation to rest and to really acknowledge my limitations. And so I think rest is such a key part of it, to take a sabbatical to listen to what your body's saying, to listen to any of the lights on the dashboard that are indicating that we've done too much. I think people will often say it's impossible to take a
break. And yet, I, I feel like it's necessary, you're they're gonna do it. Now you're gonna do it after the fact that you burn out. And so I just strongly encourage people towards that. And I find it really interesting. This is a really fun example that I came across here in Spain recently. There's this restaurant mugabi, it's called, they take their number nine in the world for the best restaurant. And I can't say that I've been there yet because of that. But they say they close
for four months every year. So they take four out of 12 months to take time off, because they understand if they don't, if they want to do something really important and creative, that they have to stop and rest and reflect and discover new ideas. And I just found it to be a really powerful example for me of the creative process and that need for the incubation period that you see in the creative process. And that's what transition is. It's really that,
that time that pause? Hmm. I would say secondly, probably the most exciting part for me is the play aspect of elements and just encouraging people to create just to break out of boxes. Try something new, take a risk, be curious. If that means they are doing that in a sabbatical or in a time of breath. I think that that allows them some opportunity to for time, that might mean taking a new class, you know where or a twist on something that they've always
done or liked doing? Yeah. I think helping people surround themselves with creativity. I know for me when I if I need to write something I go to some of my favorite authors like they just have a way of giving flair to words and playing with words in a way that I get really stuck with. And so I look at them as my mentors in in creativity. Or if I'm going to create a new recipe, which I don't often but if I want to then I go to read some new recipes online. What are other people doing with
this? You know, so yeah, yeah, but and I I also think just having a sense of humor and not being afraid of failure, just trying something and that, for many of us, and probably most of us is really painful, difficult, scary place. Probably laden with some history there that we need to acknowledge and tap into a little bit. But I'm reminded that people's most people's success rises out of the ashes
of failure. And that if we get get that opportunity, and we take the opportunity, even if we fail, we gave it a we gave it a chance, and we gave it a shot, and yet many beautiful new things come out of just making that attempt and executing something new.
Yeah, that that ind of takes me back to to a big transition that I that I went hrough a number of years ago, here, at some point, I just elt a permission. And I reall don't know, you know, how this, this permission piece came, but to explore to dream, you k ow, just just to dream for the s ke of dreaming? Not, not that had to, you know, set goals around those things that I was d eaming about, necessarily. Right
right. And the truth is, that t's some goals, some life plann ng and goals did come out of th t. But that wasn't the that asn't the motivation for me. A d so I think that's a creat ve piece, you know, the dream ng piece, you know, kind of go s along with what you're talki g about is rest, you know, and p ay. And when you do those thing , they're just opened, like
ou said, create space. And so fo me that just the dreaming for t e sake of dreaming, it reall was helpful, you know, just hat what could be, you know, what could this look like?
Exactly. And that's actually what I would say, third, after resting and after playing is to take a period of reevaluation and then you have that opportunity to dream like, what are my longings? What have I been desiring? Yeah, just actually tapping into those unmet unfulfilled dreams that
you've had. Yeah. And, and I think applying what you've just learned to what you already know, so if you do take that time to, to play and to explore and recreate almost like, jazz, or drama or dance, you know, that you're not talking about something completely new, but you're talking about a connection of ideas and a recreation. Good. So you're getting this opportunity to what if, you know, what does this look like? If and like you said, that just the giving yourself
permission to dream? applying what you've just learned to what you already know, and not necessarily coming up with a new idea about connecting ideas
Connecting, I like that piece. Yeah. Connecting to? And it Yeah, sometimes it just seems like what kind of fragmented it's out there. But but it's not necessarily the timing is timing is everything. Right? So we don't always see it come together. As we you know, assume it might or think it might but it's it's it's it's opening up that space for for dreaming and thinking outside the box. And that was the question I was gonna kind of ask you about this
area's white. Why do you think it's hard to think outside the box in transition seasons?
Yeah, I think there's a number of reasons. It's hard. But especially in transition, I think we can get kind of pragmatic, right, we need to have an answer. What are we doing next? Where, where are we going next? How are the bills gonna get paid? It's sort of that pressure. And that's, that's why I go back to the if we can actually take a season of rest and take a sabbatical or be given that permission to play. That is the space that's often needed, I think, to being afraid
to fail. Gosh, what if I step out and I'm not that person anymore? What if I'm not what if I'm something different? What if this looks completely different? What if I'm not called to be in this specific place? Yeah, it's it's scary. Yeah. step of faith. And, and I think many of us have self limiting beliefs. I know like I said, I compared myself a lot. My husband is really creative, and he almost anything he touches, he can create something new from we got to Spain, and he all of a sudden
became a woodworker. I was like, Where did this come from? You can create out of recycled stuff like How did this happen? You know, we were just showing up at Wherever the leftover things were left to that's very common common in Spain. So I think comparing ourselves to others and listening to those self limiting beliefs, which could come from others and could come from ourself. So tapping into where do those come from? And how do I, how do I actually live
into what it is? That is true about me that God has created in me?
Yeah. And do you think sometimes it's, it's also like if I start thinking outsi e the box, if I start looki g at these things? How is it go ng to impact? My family and t ose around me?
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Breeding the discontent a little bit.
And how is that oing to impact them? Do I have, you know, do is that is that eve a responsible thing for me to o? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so so hat's a challenge and cr ating space for that, going back to, you know, creating space r st, like you said, for that i so important. What are what ar some things that you found h lpful? To, you mentioned, limit limited thinking earlier
on in our conversation? So what are some things you found helpful to break us out of hat limited thinking and tra sition in order to really engage that creative process?
Yeah, for me, I sort of gave myself the space to write and just a free write. And not like you said before, not to have a, it was to be in process not to have an end goal. It's not for performance. I, I took myself on walks, and I let myself just explore and engage with my body in that way, also,
through stretching or yoga. And I think one of the most important is to have people alongside of you, to help give you that real perspective of what is going on, and it's going to be okay, and I've been there. And there's, there's beauty on the other side of this darkness in this pain, and just help helping to really engage with your thinking. And to break open some of the negative thought patterns, or the is this really gonna affect my family and all these negative ways? Like, what
if I do this? Is it gonna be okay, and, you know, just the coming alongside? And the having the community of people in it? I think it's really huge.
Yeah, that community connection, and sometimes transition seasons can feel very isolating for us, you now, and is this just kind of, ou know, kind of, am I just in m own little internal world here Because I am an internal proc ssor. So I do, you know, and 'm like, questioning if I just do I just need to break out of t is and get on with life, or, ou know, and so for me, what you're saying was really help ul having someone to come alon
side. And this may, this may ound like a commercial for what for our work here, but I, you now, for what you and I do, but t really is important to have someone coming alongside aski g the right questions, help ng to, yeah, open up, you know just a new perspective. Givi g us permission, if that's what we need, you know, just some of those areas. So yeah, tota ly agree. Yeah.
And validating that. It really is painful. And it's hard. And it's complicated. I think, especially for global workers, it's very complicated. It has so many layers, you're not just talking about a role. You're talking about a geographical location, and a family being impacted. And, you know, and so it really the validation is, is an enormous piece that we can't overlook as well, and why we do what we do, right? This is something that
others have done for us. And so seeing the value in it, right?
Yeah. And that's come out yet. It's come out of just a personal kind of story, as we can, as I've heard you share your transition story. And as I shared bits and pieces of mine, through these podcasts, just just really, yeah, it comes out of that experience, that transition journey we ourselves have been on. You mentioned this, you've mentioned a number of times this kind of creative
process. And I like what you you said, when we were talking about well, what will we talk about In this conversation, you said, you said something that really, really stood out to me creating new in transition. And I love that just that that phrase creating new and transition. And some of that I think we've maybe already alluded to, but is there anything you want to add to that?
Hmm? Yeah, I think that, for me, when I've started to unpack what is it that is happening inside of us, like our right brain and our left brain when we're, when we're in stuck places, I think that for me, the research behind that has been fascinating to just see that developmentally, we've shut that down a lot of times, because of the way that we need to engage as an adult. And as we, as we have to think and get life done.
And, and yet, we are created with both sides of our brain to utilize both sides of our brain. And just being intentional about tapping into that in these in these times. I think that the transition process really parallels the creative process, which the creative process, as you probably know, includes the four stages of preparation and incubation illumination and
implementation. And I think the transition process, like Terry walling talks about is really similar Terry walling in his books, and includes those, those four in a, in a slightly different verb, for way entry evaluation, alignment direction, so the incubation period being what I consider the transition process for a lot of people, and that can be months to years. But it is really where the beauty comes from, in this season, what can be really lonely and
isolating. Somebody said to me, in the middle of my transition, the most beautiful art is created in isolation, like it's created when you're alone, when you're in the depths of like, all of the feelings and often in pain. And so it's this mirroring the transition process and the creative process for me, that that grandpa's, in that opportunity, if we can really shift our thinking to see it as
an opportunity. Instead of, ah, we're going to be stuck here forever, you know, aboard aboard, I don't want to stay here anymore. But what what an opportunity it is to really lean into the creative side of us if we can see it that way.
Yeah, that's so good. I love that. And that actually brings me back to literal, literal interpretation of that the incubation because one of the hobbies I had growing up and I revived when we were overseas was was actually
incubating eggs. Oh, right. And so I did this with my children growing up, they were younger, and I found an incubator and set it up and we start we started incubating chicken eggs and, and, and they of course, they were in awe when all the whole process but but not to abort the process. Because if you you know, even if you see it, even if you see, like, I recall some times when they would see a crack in the egg, you know, and meaning that the chick trying to
get out. They were trying but you know, we'd be looking at the egg my kids and I and we say can you help the chick out? Can you help it out? You know, no, you can't do that they have to gather enough strength and to come out on the other side of that. They need to go through the process, you know, and and so not to abort that process that incubation process that that season. Yeah, yeah. Being in there, in that space is so important to see beauty on the other side.
That's really good I get a full body feeling on th t one. Not that long ago for me It is so true that the beaut that comes from it at the sam time
Yeah! Okay, so this has been really great. I just really appreciate you spending so e time with me and this such c itical. It's such a critical ar a of just in these pivotal, pi otal seasons of our lives. And and I really believe tha whether there are listeners o t there who are many of them are working globally. They're the 're navigating tough seasons. Th y're in geographica
ly tough places. So whether goi g through internal transitions you know, or things that are, y u know, happening externally ven forced to transition ll right, rug pulled out transit on. So there's a lot of I think here's a lot of good good things in here that we can. I know, I w nt to reflect on myself on t is conversation we've had t day, there's been some really
good things. So for a listener, as we wrap our time up today, f r a listener who would be fe ling stuck in transition, what what kind of final piece of advice would you would you l ave us with today?
I would say I don t want to minimize at all t e complication, and the t e feelings that come wi h transition and how isolating t can feel and how overwhelming t can feel. And yet, at the sa e time, really being able to gi e ourselves an opportunity o think about transiti n differently, can allow us o engage with it in a way that e can tap into what exists t e creativity that exists in all f us that wants to express itse f in a unique and imaginative w y through us. And that's what G
d has created us. And that's wh t that's what he's asking of u . Yeah, and yet, acknowledging t takes a lot of faith and t takes, it takes that ste , sometimes of just saying, th s really hurts, this is painfu . And yet, I believe there s something more for me in th s world. And so I would ju t encourage people to really le n into that lean into the longin s and dreams, like you we
e saying, as well. And just givi g yourself that opportunity, f you can, to rest, to really e able to give space to play a d creativity. And also just ha e somebody come alongside of th m as well, that those are t e three things that I real y recommend for peopl
Great encouragement. Sarah, thank you so much for spending some time with me today. And having this conversation together. I really, really appreciate it.
Absolutely. I think we could probably keep talking for a while since we're both passionate about this. So thank you for giving me the chance.
We might have to have a part two.
Yeah, definitely happy to.
Hey, I want to encourage you to check out Sarah's website at the way between.org and take advantage of all the great resources she offers. Setting apart time to rest, play and reflect is extremely critical during transition seasons. But so often we forge ahead to the next thing without once hitting the pause button, and we miss those creative moments. What would it look like to have that creative space that you need for a
winning transition? A coach is someone who comes alongside you in your journey to help you create space and engage those creative moments in transition seasons. To learn more book, a discovery call with me at encompass life coaching comm if you're interested to learn how working with a coach can help you get unstuck and grow during this time of transition. Thanks for joining me today for this episode of navigate podcast. I've been your host Tim Austin.
And if this has been helpful to you, would you mind rating the podcast writing a review and sharing on social media. And of course, you can always subscribe to the podcast so that you're sure to get in on the next episode. And I'll see you there.