Leia Francisco

"Career Transitions"

Leia Francisco has been a career/life coach for over 20 years, helping individuals and organizations make powerful changes. Her background includes being a senior manger in government, leader on women’s initiatives and career development, strategic director for financial services companies on women’s markets, college instructor in both writing and career planning, and a writer of books, articles and newspaper columns about the workplace and women. Leia has focused much of her work on managing transitions. She is passionate about showing individuals how to leverage the power of significant changes and has developed specific tools, writing strategies, and coaching methods for making transitions a process of self-discovery and renewal. While living in the Hill Country of Texas, she works with clients around the country and the globe, finding particular joy when coaching older clients as they refine their purpose in life and work.

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How Older Women Can Make the Most of Life Transitions
January 11, 2012 by Leia Francisco

Life transitions can deepen our wisdom and broaden our horizons. By “transitions,” I mean your responses to life changes that affect your roles, perceptions, and situations in significant ways. Job loss, changes in health, a geographic move, death of a loved one, a new career, shifts within a family—all these can create strong emotional reactions that alter your thinking and functioning. Some transitions come from changes that you expected but that did not occur, such as an earlier retirement or reconciliation with a loved one. You may see the transitions as positive, negative, or a mix of both. Working with clients over the years, I find that understanding transitions helps people move through even difficult change more easily and leverage personal creativity.

 
Women typically experience multiple transitions as they redesign their lives, and while each woman experiences a unique response, there are common transitions for older women.
 
1.      Developmental transitions require reassessment of what is truly important. Adult development theory no longer fits inside traditional age “boxes” but typically after age 50, you are apt to focus more on the quality of your life, its larger meaning, what you want to leave as a legacy. This is a time to take stock.

2.      Transitions in caretaking and relationships may be central. Your major childrearing responsibilities might be behind you. Your children may be adults with their own children, and so you are navigating new adult relationships while deciding how much grandparenting responsibility you want. You may lose a spouse through divorce or death. These changes stir anxiety and soul-searching—often leading to renewal.

3.      You will seek greater personal freedom and authenticity. Juxtaposed with caretaking is a desire to explore your personal identity. You want self-clarity. You want to find your purpose and passion, your true path. Many experts comment on the powerful energy of older women.

4.      Your concept of work is reshaped. Most of us will have more than one career and will work well into later years. You might experience a new sense of excitement as you explore paid and unpaid work options. Perhaps you return to a dream, such as starting a business, or you may weigh your strengths and interests against the practical realities of earning income.  

5.      You will attend more to physical and emotional well-being. Being over 50 isn’t what it used to be. You may ramp up your health management, through diet, exercise and spiritual and emotional reflection. This is particularly important for women, as we tend to put ourselves last. Accepting your body as it is, caring for it and finding greater inner wisdom are part of healthy aging.
 
These transitions require that you understand what you are releasing, what is ending, and that you navigate these changes in your own way. If you are juggling several transitions at once, concentrate more of your energy on the transition that is most challenging or significant. Give yourself time, especially in the stage between the old roles and the new ones to see uncertainty as normal and to expand the creative possibilities of your life. Journaling your transitions yields great insight and support in addition to a network of supportive souls. Transitions continue throughout your life, truly enriching your elder wisdom.
 
 
Leia Francisco, MA, CJF, is a professional life and career coach who has spent more than 25 years developing programs and initiatives for women. She specializes in transition management and therapeutic writing and is the author of Writing through Transitions. You can find out more about her work at www.leiafrancisco.com
Categories: Changing Jobs or Careers, Career Management & Transition, Career Plan
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