Are you the kind of person that likes change? Or are you the kind of person that wants things to stay the same, embraces the predictability of routines ?

Like it or not, life comes with transition, change and adjustment that impacts your life in varying degrees. We all experience transitions throughout our lives – small and big, planned and unplanned. Some transitions may be fun and exciting such as a new job or new home whilst others may be prompted by distressing situations such as the loss of a loved one or a pet.

Transition is more than just a change. It is an inner process whereby you come to terms with a change and reorient yourself to the way things are now. It is a process of recalibrating to a new normal. And everyone does this differently, and at different speeds.

Unfortunately, it is during these periods of change that our emotions are often high and overwhelming. We don’t always have ways to cope with these free-flowing emotions without using food , because otherwise we can feel lost and controlled by our emotions. Today, we have also been culturally taught to stay busy, to not allow ourselves a down moment. And this constant busyness is a distraction from feeling our feelings too, especially in a period of transition and change – where it is so important to get in touch with our feelings. Food and busyness have a lot in common. Exercise too. They all keep the spotlight away from ourselves, they keep us focussed on our outer worlds and away from feeling our feelings. This stops us from getting in touch with our feelings.

Essentially we need to develop the skills to regulate our emotions and make friends with our feelings instead of pushing them away, hoping they will leave. Learning to self-regulate without food and responding to our feelings in a healthy way, will leave you feeling grounded and empowered. The feelings we have are messages from our body. Take a moment to listen and tune in to that message. Pause and pay attention. As with anything in life, emotions come and go in their various forms throughout the day. Sometimes it is helpful to remember that they will pass. Feelings are not permanent. Like waves in the ocean, they reach a peak. Crash. Then new ones form. Sometimes in different sizes.

Remember that these feelings won’t last forever. Breathe into them. Notice where you feel it in the body, know it will fade. Breath is the antidote to your feelings. Breath will carry you from one state to the next.