When Dennis and I write about transitions in our blog posts, we usually focus on how to help ADHD adults make transitions. That’s because life and work transitions are often more challenging for individuals who have ADHD than they are for others. However, in this post, we’ll update you on some life and work transitions that we have been making ourselves since we wrote our last blog article many months ago!
Best Possible Future
Almost two years ago now, I wrote an article called “Happiness Strategies That Work.” In the article, I mentioned a wonderful, free positive psychology app called “Bliss” that I was using to record daily “gratitude” statements.
Toward the end of 2018, I sat down to do another Bliss exercise called “Best Possible Future.” After completing the exercise, the vision for Dennis’ and my future became crystal clear: We wanted to make a major life and work transition. We wanted to downsize our living and work spaces. We wanted to get rid of possessions we no longer needed. And we wanted to enjoy some aspects of life that we simply had not had time to experience.
One of the first things we decided to do was to cut back on the amount of time we work at LaMountain & Associates. We absolutely LOVE our work! But we realized that we couldn’t make major life transitions without also making major work transitions.
We decided to work part-time. That meant we couldn’t coach as many clients, administer as many 360 Feedback projects, or even write as many blog articles.
Quite frankly, we found that cutting back on work was hard. A lot of our identity and fulfillment centers around our work – and still does. Still, our vision was clear that this transition was what we wanted and needed to do.
The Big Change
We got busy and started sorting, tossing, giving away, and selling so many things that I can’t even remember all of them! Simultaneously, we did some home upgrades. And, finally, we put our house – which had also been home to LaMountain & Associates since its inception in 1981 – on the market! The house sold the first weekend it was on the market, and we had not yet finalized a contract on a new home!
Thankfully, we soon finalized the contract on a wonderful condo just ten minutes away from our old neighborhood, and we moved in April, 2019. But we had no idea how time-consuming it would be to sort through 38 years of business and household belongings that had accumulated at our previous address and to move into a smaller home!
This “cleansing” experience was both refreshing and exhausting. It took months to do the final unpacking, give away more possessions, and start anew with different furnishings. But we did manage to squeeze in a couple of long-awaited vacations trips in 2019!
A Great Life and Work Transition
Our new lifestyle – with fewer responsibilities, a raised garden bed but no yard to maintain, and more time to take care of ourselves – suits us well.
Even Amos, our Chief Morale Officer, loves the change. He enjoys our two balconies, and we still have two home-based offices. There’s always a lap for him to sit on or an empty office chair for him to keep warm!
We’re also happy that Sam Taylor recently started working for LaMountain & Associates as an Associate/Coaching Support Specialist. Sam is providing coaching support services to college students and other adults with ADHD and co-existing conditions. He has also assumed other business responsibilities and just published his first blog article for LaMountain & Associates.
Make sure to read Sam’s blog article, “Growing Up With Undiagnosed ADHD.” You’ll see more articles by Sam on our blog in the near future. Welcome, Sam!
Sometimes it’s good – even necessary – to hit the pause button for a while when major life and work transitions occur. But we’re glad to be back in touch with our blog subscribers and others who keep up with things at LaMountain & Associates. We’re still around, and we’re still enjoying our work – and life!
Thank you for your continued support and your interest in our services at LaMountain & Associates. And please let us know anything we can do for you. We’d love to hear from you!
Camille – WELL DONE! Great article., great message, and encouraging to me and likely others. Your journey demonstrates living and walking the talk that you can provide to others you and Dennis coach. Congratulations. Keep up the great work you are doing – keep making a difference. Blessings…michael marshall
Michael – You are so kind! Thank you for your comment. We do feel that we are making a difference – and so are you, in the many things you do! Blessings to you, too!