... while they grieve the part of their life or identity that has either been taken away from them or they have walked away from.
Many people have difficulty saying goodbye to one identity and transitioning to another. Regardless of how relieved they might be to be getting divorced after years of being unhappy, for example, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to leave their married-person identity behind. No one should be rushed to “get over it” or “move on” during ending, regardless of their event. I think most of us understand that intellectually, but that doesn’t mean we always give others the time and space they need to mourn the loss of what was.
You know ending is coming to a close when your client is ready and willing to move forward with the plan they have co-created with you. Ease and clarity are the fruit of the sometimes precarious work of ending—but only if you know the terrain and how to navigate it.
To read the first article in this series, click here: /news/the-playbook-for-when-life-changes-33961.html
Susan Bradley, CFP, CeFT is the founder of the Sudden Money Institute, which began 17 years ago as a community of practice seeking to better serve their financial planning clients by developing process and tools for the personal side of money and for clients going through transitions. This think tank created the Certified Financial Transitionist (CeFT) designation, and a division for training and certification called the Financial Transitionist Institute. Susan speaks frequently in the United States as well as internationally, and is the author of Sudden Money: Managing a Financial Windfall (Wiley 2000). Her TEDx talk, “Change Launches Your Next Chapter” can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcf7zbW1C7Y.