How to Navigate Your Life Transitions of 2020 and Beyond

5…4…3…2…1…Happy New Year! Gone is 2019 and now it’s 2020-a new decade!

Partway through the first month. What’s happened (or hasn’t) so far?

I’m not good at planning what I want my life to be in a year, three years, five or 10 years. So that’s not what this article is about.

It is about life transitions that I can reasonably predict over the next 10 years. This will help me design the other aspects of my life in ways that work for me.

What I Know for Sure

Everyone will get older! I see at least three impacts in my life.

#1 Aging parents. Within this decade, one if not both of my parents will leave this earth. Between now and then, I will need to go to doctor appointments with them, help with financial matters, and assist with major decisions. I can plan for some of this: I know I’ll have to help with yearly taxes in February and March. As Executor of each of their estates, I can make sure I have copies of their current legal documents, a checklist for settling estates, and information about their financial and legal contacts.

I can’t prepare for some of it: unexpected health issue means an unplanned visit to a doctor or emergency room. Oh wait, since I know there will be health issues, I can prepare my own emergency bag with reading materials, non-perishable snacks, and their health information. Then I’ll have one less thing to think about when I’m called about an urgent situation.

#2 Nephews transitioning to adulthood. One nephew is a high school senior and the other is a high school freshman. Ten years from now they will most likely have college degrees and possibly advanced degrees. One or both of them could be in a significant relationship. And who knows what else!

Of immediate importance to me is their transitions to college. I am Trustee of education trusts that my parents set up for each of them. As such, I have a legal and fiduciary responsibility to ensure this money is spent appropriately. I also consider it crucial to help each of my nephews learn about budgeting and other money matters during this time. So for the next eight-to-ten years or so, their life transitions require action on my part.

Of course, this also means some fun stuff like attending graduations!

As they move into new phases of life, it will alter things like how our family currently celebrates holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays. We’ll negotiate leaving some traditions behind and creating new traditions.

#3 Aging me. Ten years from now, my business will be more virtual and less hands-on, if for no other reason than I won’t have the physical ability to move boxes of stuff. I’m actively planning for this now since I’m establishing a new niche as a Life Transitions Organizer Coach. However, since I’m creating this shift right now, I don’t know exactly what it will look like at the end of this decade.

From a personal perspective, I need to consider my living circumstances. My house isn’t conducive to “aging-in-place,” so I need to mull over my next living situation. Do I want to buy a single-story house? Do I want to move into a 55+ living community? Do I want to ask one of my nephews to build a mother-in-law suite for their aunt?

I won’t have an answer by December 31, 2029. However, I will have acquired additional information about the possibilities. I will also have become more vigilant about how much stuff I bring into my current house because I know for sure that whatever my decision, my living space will be smaller.

What I can Reasonably and Partially Predict

I often say, “I don’t know what I don’t know.” And that definitely applies with upcoming life transitions!

For instance, I’m positive that there will be changes in technology. However, I have no idea of their exact nature. In fact, I don’t know of anyone who could predict precisely what our digital landscape will look like in 10 years. All I know that technology will be markedly different and I will have to makes modifications in my personal and professional life because of it. I just can’t do anything now to prepare for it, beyond keeping an eye out for the “next big thing.”

I’m sure that if I took time to think about it, I would come up with other things that fit into this category. However, I think you get the idea!

I realize that you may not be interested in considering your life transitions for the next decade. Although if that was the case, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have read this far:-) Or you may think, “Well, it’s good to keep some of this information in the back of my mind, however I’m not going to really do anything about it now.”

Or, you may be like me and want to get a little jump on the planning. You might develop some checklists, create some electronic or paper files, or assemble an emergency bag.

There’s not a right or wrong way to approach the next decade. What I know for certain is that you’ll encounter some life transitions, your own as well as the ones of other people, which impact you.

You can wait, be surprised, and react to these life transitions. Or you can be proactive and strategize along the way.

As a Life Transitions Organizer Coach, I partner with people impacted by ADHD and chronic disorganization to design less stressful, more organized and productive transitions in their personal and professional life. Because it’s a collaborative process, my clients feel great about the experience and can see real results. If you are experiencing shifts in job tasks, changes to relationship status, moves related to home or office, adjustment of adult responsibilities due to aging parents, or new medical diagnoses, contact me NOW and discover how to create a calmer professional or personal life transition.