Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes, Revised 25th Anniversary Edition

If your just getting into the discussion and understanding of managing people through change, this is the “bible,” the one to start with. William Bridges was ahead of his time with his observations and theories on managing through the many transitions of change. This a great book to build a foundational lexicon on the theories and methodologies of Change Management

This book has a lot of interesting thoughts and ides that I found really helpful! I’ll definitely reference my highlights on this one from time to time. The author has a bit of a rambling style that made it tough to stick with at times, but I’m glad I made it through. Overall, reading this book felt a bit like mining for gold. I had to sift through a lot of uninteresting material to find the nuggets that were well worth the effort!

I like and recommend this book as a guideline to life’s inevitable change and arc. The book helps the reader to evaluate and also dig deep into the confusing nature of change in one’s life while providing motivating and clarifying mythical backdrops to counter our sometimes deceptive emotional states during this process.

As I'm typing this review, it's been more than a year that she left me. Every word in this powerful book still resonates strongly in me. Beyond the separation, the mess and the sleepless nights and gray-blue days spent trying to make sense of what clearly doesn't have an ounce of reason, there is the transition: that's the sole message of this short book.This book was suggested by my therapist. Initially treated as support material, it quickly became an eye-opener. I would lie if I said it did not help me "move on". Or at least, it helped me realize the need to do so. What you do, afterward, is entirely up to you.Of course, one single book, in light of the hard turns life can make you take, cannot seriously pretend to show you the light (and if so, is there really a light?). But it helped, in a kind and gentle way. There is no recipe, or secret that you can only get if pay the fee. No, you have to look beyond and figure out that strange, mucky zone where some of us can stay stuck in for a long, long time.I would recommend this reading to anyone who feels like somehow, they let the ropes loose but never really set sail. It's ok to be adrift, to let oneself go if you accept that sometimes, it's the only way.Consider this Step 1 in your quest to "Making Sense of Life's Changes". There are too many steps, too many twists and one read can't change much. But it's one hell of a great start.

This is a great book, however, I must admit that when I first came across it I was wary "Oh no, another self-help book". But this is a thoughtful, well-grounded and well-written book with many fine insights. Clearly, William Bridges knows something about life, that is real life. So, the book is interspersed with practical examples of a range of people wrestling with change. And here is the rub. The issue is not change or changes, as they happen all the time, the real issue is the work of transition. Changes include everything from leaving home, changing jobs or ending a relationship. We cannot avoid them. In fact, they often threaten to swamp us. The key issue is what is happening inside of us. This is about who we are. This is about identity. This is the work of transition. A change may take 5 months, but a transition may take 5 years. It is how we deal with the interior work of transition that can make or break us. In turn, the work of transition can help us deal with change, present and future. As a counterexample, we all know people who run from one disaster to another, because they have not done the deeper work of transition. In this light, his work on endings is very helpful. In short, I would recommend this book to anyone grappling with change and what's happening to them in the process. Though the themes are familiar to psychologists, counselors, social workers, teachers and clergy, professionals would find this a refreshing approach.

It is now almost fifteen years since I entered into the challenging world of retirement. In no time at all, I found myself emulating the comment of another retiree to the effect that he was busier in retirement than he ever had been! At one of my retirement dinner ceremonies, a young lady came up to me and said, "Thank you for all that you have done and I think that you will find this book quite interesting!" I read the book in the next few days and its wisdom and humor have been with me ever since. It has so much to give to us beyond retirement!Since that time I would say that I have easily given away to my "retiring friends" at least forty copies of this book. Each time I have echoed the words of the original giver with the additional request to let me know what their reactions were. The unanimous sentiment was that the book provided so many helpful insights and now they are giving it away as well.I would only emphasize one point that is made in the book, we need to plan ahead for this event of retirement. It is not something we just step into having closed the door to our office.Rick Wheeler

After a long, long military career I was really struggling with the changes in my life that leaving had brought about. I tried a few things but nothing really seemed to make sense - a sort of 'lost' feeling - and then, as so often happens, the right thing came along. In this case, a friend recommended this book (and I have bought him beer to thank him!). This is neither a book of techniques for finding your way nor a self-help manual in the typical sense, but as I read it I kept recognising the emotions the author described, and much of what he has written resonated at a very personal level. I'm not suggesting that all my confusion magically went away, but it certainly helped me understand and thus feel better about what I was/am experiencing.I read Bridges as making 2 main points: (1) Change happens to everyone, all the time, but that's just logistics - we move house, change cars and so forth. Transition, however, is psychological, and that's why it's hard, and that's what this book is about. (2) Before a new beginning there has to be an ending. Bridges' model is: ending, neutral zone, new beginning, and his proposition is that people in a transition need to recognise and accept the endings before we can make a good new beginning. He talks about 5 'D's - disengagement, disorientation, dismantling, dis-identification, disenchantment and disorientation, which seemed to me be various facets of letting go, and essential for good endings.If you are struggling with changes in your life and finding it confusing then I empathise - we are fellow travellers - and want to understand (as opposed to being told what to do) then you might find this book useful and interesting: I certainly did, which is why I've just bought another of his books.

I wish I had read it 10 months earlier when I started being challenged with my transition and I could not explain why I was feeling a certain way with all these changes whilst everyone around me -thankfully except from my mentor at work, who suggested this book- were telling me I should just accept the changes, get up and move on...After reading the book it was as if I was reading what was REALLY going through my mind the last few months... Things finally started making sense, I accepted that this processes "Endings - Neutral Zone - New beginnings" are natural to us and by me fighting to speed up the process I was only setting up myself to fail in the future and depriving me of all the learnings...I love this book! I have recommended it to many of my friends. It will change the way you think and open up your mind, forever

Excellent book content. Makes sense of changes and chapters in our lives and the importance of transition in relation to endings and new beginnings, especially the neutral zone between them which from experience can be a difficult but necessary link between them.

I am currently undergoing a very painful period in my life and this book has been a rock to hold onto when the big waves really hit. Some of the examples the author uses may not be appropriate to you - but the underlying messages are always useful.A great comfort - tests your intelligence, realistic - the language used is accessible - no useless 'motivational' messages just sticks to the point.Recommended

Using a simple yet powerful formula, William Bridges takes you successfully through the process of change via Endings, The Neutral Zone and, finally, New Beginnings. Pulling no punches this is not a happy clappy remedy but a straight-forward grasp your life with two hands approach to taking charge of your life instead of being its victim. Easily readable, digestible and do-able!