'Empire' Star Grace Gealey on the Art of Transition

Queens,

With moving to a new city, into a new place, having new managers and in a sense, a ‘new’ career, the concept of transition is absolutely upon me. But I have to admit, I love the idea of beginning anew. Checking in with myself is something I do quite often because it’s so very necessary, and now with this new change in my life, I find myself smack dab in the middle of monitoring my internal state.  So how do we approach the ‘art of transition’ in our lives? I like to break it down like this: 1. Check in 2. Be brutally honest 3. Trust that everything will be okay 4. Make a move.

1. Check-in. This is the time when you create the necessary circumstances for your spirit, mind, heart and soul to speak to you. Take a bubble bath. Light a candle in your bedroom. Grab your journal. Or calm everything down with a hot cup of tea. Settle in, get warm and be still. Invite the quiet into your space and take the time to go over the facets of your life internally as things are changing. Pay attention to what brings you tension, what makes you smile, what causes friction with your spirit, what makes you full and what you can’t seem to find peace with.

2. Be brutally honest. Sometimes we want to hold on to things, people or ideas because they are familiar to us. What we don’t always realize is that in times of transition, we can end up mistaking that familiarity for comfort and need.  Just because something or someone was right for you at a certain point in your life, that does not mean that they serve you now. Be unequivocally truthful with the things you need to shed. Making excuses is only going to prolong what you will have to end up doing anyway. The truth is the truth, whether you face it now or later.

3. Trust that everything will be okay. Look back in your past at the times when your gut told you no. When your conscience said yes. When your convictions were so strong about something, you couldn’t stop thinking about it. Whenever you followed your core, you were always glad you did.  ALWAYS.  Everything worked out. Every single time. Trust that your spirit is in alignment with God and because of that, He will never lead you astray.  It will ALWAYS work out once you are true to yourself and your spirit.

4. Make a move. Once you have the truth, don’t just sit in it! Do what you know you must do.  Is there anything that needs to change around you? Within you? Playing the fence will only make it harder for you in the end.  Know that simply because you are facing this, it’s a compliment to your strength; because God would have never handed this over to you if He didn’t think you could handle it. 

Chicago, it's been real! 

You have the courage, power and peace you need to master the art of transition.  There are growing pains, there are harsh truths and there may even be some people who are affected along the way, but in the end, your spirit is depending on you to take care of it, Queens.  Don’t apologize for what you need to do in order to take care of you.

Is your life in transition? Are you coming upon some truths? Share with me what ‘shifts’ are happening with you! 

Tune-in every Wednesday to catch Grace on EMPIRE!