If you have called Life Skills Resource Group in the last two weeks, you may have been surprised to reach Sabina Flores instead of me. I am both sad and happy to announce that I am leaving Life Skills Resource Group. As you might remember, I am a counselor-in-training, and I’m now moving to a different phase in my training – internship! The great news is I’m now one step closer to being a counselor at Life Skills Resource Group, as I do hope to return to the group as an Orlando mental health counselor after I graduate in May 2015! The bad news is that I will no longer be with you on a day-to-day basis. This transition has made me think a lot about endings, so I wanted to talk a little bit about endings today.
For me, this ending is a positive one – I had a wonderful experience at Life Skills Resource Group, and moving on is a move forward in my career. That said, it is still sad – I’m leaving daily work with individuals I love and respect as amazing counselors and friends: Cindy Fabico, Amy Smith, Risa Bos, Dr. Melissa Rojas, Kelli Skorman, and Jessica Carmean. I’m leaving a rewarding and welcoming place where I learned much and was honored to be a small part of the healing journey of so many. Even when endings happen because of positive movement in our lives, it is still not only okay, but normal, to be sad about change. Endings are so frequently bittersweet. While that isn’t really nice, it is okay.
There are all kinds of endings in our lives: endings of relationships, school years, summers, moving from one home to another, changing jobs, and many more. Sometimes endings happen because we are moving on to something positive for us, sometimes because of our choices, sometimes because of the choices of others, and sometimes they just seem to happen – out of our control. When endings don’t necessarily seem positive to us or weren’t our choice, they can be even harder. In these cases, we have to do our best to take care of ourselves while we live through and adjust to difficult change. It isn’t easy, and counseling can be one good option to get support.
But there’s another side to difficult change too, which is called post-traumatic growth! Post-traumatic growth happens when we end up growing personally in positive ways as a result of the difficult things that happen to us. Certainly we’d rather that difficult things didn’t happen to us, but if they do at least we might be able to get something out of them! While it isn’t guaranteed that you will experience post-traumatic growth when something difficult happens to you, having a view of difficult events as possible opportunities for growth can help make post-traumatic growth more likely! In some ways I find it comforting to know there’s some sad in a positive change – that helps it make sense to me that something good can come out of a negative change.
So, if you’re dealing with an ending, whether good or bad, have hope that it can take you forward in a positive way! If you are having trouble with endings, beginnings, or life transitions, give us a call at Life Skills Resource Group Orlando at 407-355-7378. Our Orlando therapists are experienced in helping you work through the grief and loss inherent in change, even good change. I have no doubt that when you reach out to us Sabina Flores will take excellent care of your phone calls, emails, and other needs.
I thank you very much for the time we have spent together. I have thoroughly enjoyed being allowed to be a part of your life, and I will miss working with you. I wish you positive outcomes, whether you’re dealing with positive or negative change.
With love and respect for your journey ~Krista Bringley
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