The Essential of Understanding Emotional Cycles of Transition!
Every transition follows the same emotional cycle—Dr. Z explains the 5 stages using Kelly Connor's model and why recognizing where you are helps you get through the hardest parts.
Stage 1: Uninformed optimism. You're not fully informed yet and seeing only the end goal—your authentic self, congruency, lessening dysphoria. Everything is rosy. Stage 2: Informed pessimism. Reality check hits. You're realizing it's harder than you thought, changes are slow, complications arise. You start questioning whether you can handle this. Stage 3: Valley of despair. The worst, most difficult stage—transition purgatory. You're not seeing results quickly enough, you feel hopeless, nothing seems to be changing. This is where most people give up or stop hormones. Stage 4: Informed optimism. You made it through! Changes are happening, you're equipped with experiential knowledge, you know transition can throw challenges but you can overcome them. Stage 5: Success and fulfillment. You've reached your goal, realized your strength and adaptability.
Watch to find out why the valley of despair isn't the final destination, how to identify which stage you're in, and what helps people sustain through the valley when they want to give up.
