Cognitive Flexibility: Navigating Life’s Transitions

Sukanksha Bajaj

12 hours ago

7 min read

Short on time? Go through the pictures and read the summary to get the gist!

You remember the remarkable movie Inside Out, the animated movie that explains emotions in the most wonderful manner? Well, the trigger in the movie is the character Riley Andersen moving cities, and in the second movie, she is entering her teenage years, battling biological changes and complex social hierarchies. Both movies focus on various transitions in the character’s life, whether it’s situation, biological or social. Nonetheless, it got me curious about transitions, and that’s when I came across Levison’s theory called the 'stage crisis view'.

The Structure of Transition

While he lists out stages of adulthood, he essentially says adulthood is a period of building and rebuilding one’s life. I will focus on the 3 things that stood in his theory.

Life Structure: this is your structure that holds everything together. The underlying pattern that is shaped by a person's life at any given time, shaped mainly by family, culture, nationality, work, religion, and race.
Dreamers/split dreamers- It is the motivator; people have 'dreams', whether it is wondering what they will do in the future – become the next CEO, buy a house, or own a car? Or many could split the dream with family life, the ideal family life you would want.

It’s a dream because it remains in the future, but you know what’s fascinating about it? You keep changing based on internal or external factors. Maybe you don’t want that car anymore; maybe you want to go to the next destination for a scuba diving trip.
Periods of life: The life and achieving the dream happen in 2 periods:
1. Stable Period: the time when a person makes crucial choices in life. For example, settling into a middle school or settling into a career
2. Transitional Period: the end of a person's stage and the beginning of a new one. Life during these transitions can be either rocky or smooth, but the quality and significance of one’s life commitments often change between the beginning and end of a period.

Levison’s theory- the 'stage crisis view'.

How is all this linked to cognitive flexibility?

It simply talks about how there is a constant questioning at different stages of life and therefore a constant update and restructuring that is required. Though the theory applies to adults, I think these aspects apply to children of various age groups. Keeping this theory in mind, I want to focus on two crucial questions:

How does cognitive flexibility play a role in these transitions?
How does this impact neurodivergent individuals?

Transitions & Cognitive (In)Flexibility

Recall a time when you were going through a transition in your life — maybe you shifted cities, changed jobs, started university, became a parent, or moved into a completely different phase of life.

Even children go through transitions: moving from primary school to middle school, changing teachers, entering secondary school, moving from school to university, or suddenly finding themselves in a completely different social environment.

These are some of the more commonly discussed life structures and transitions, but life doesn’t follow a universal timeline. Our transitions can look very different depending on our culture, environment, circumstances and the time we live in. Not everyone follows the same path, and that’s important to keep in mind when looking at any theory of development.

Transitions always come with a certain amount of stress and emotional turmoil for everyone. There is a new environment to understand, new expectations to navigate and, often, a lot of uncertainty about what comes next.

We always think that if we give a person time to adjust, they will learn, which is true because the individual needs time to update their mental framework to the change in environment or situation. However,

What happens if they can’t update their mental framework?

A good example of this would be when a parent gets to know that their child is neurodivergent; they take time to reassess their child, the expectations, their weaknesses and their struggles, but what if they don’t change their mental framework? What if they are in denial or simply do not understand? Then the “dream” for the child doesn’t change, the expectations don’t alter and the pressure mounts, causing distress to everyone involved.

It isn’t limited to the parent-child relationship. We are constantly updating our mental frameworks as we move through life. We encounter situations that challenge what we previously believed or understood. Each of these transitions requires us to reassess what we thought we knew and decide what still fits, what needs to change and what needs to be rebuilt.

How have major life transitions felt for you?

Challenging & emotionally draining
Stressful at first but I adapted
Easier when I had structure & support
I struggled to adapt to the change

As research by Mishra & Ray shows, cognitive flexibility essentially becomes one of the protective factors during these transitions. As mentioned in the last article, inflexibility has a hidden emotional cost; it increases frustration and anger, and ultimately, it becomes internalised. It starts impacting self-esteem and your sense of belief, and the younger they start, the more they can develop self-defeating patterns, what we call maladaptive schemas. Something I often see in neurodivergent individuals. Hence, my insistence on developing cognitive flexibility as young as possible.

How do transitions impact neurodivergent individuals?

Let’s look at the transition to university.

A client once told me they were doing fine when they were in school, but now they didn’t understand the system. They were missing deadlines, didn’t understand the format and, in general, felt like they were struggling to navigate something that seemed so much easier before.

This is actually a common experience. School is an integrated setup – you know the rules, the timetable, the teachers, the expectations and, often, where to go when you need help. There is a certain amount of structure built into the environment, and they had learnt to function in those rules, but a transition causes more of an upheaval than most.

There are three things I want to highlight here.

1. Executive-function demands

Transitions place greater demands on executive functioning. For some neurodivergent individuals, these demands can be harder to manage because of existing differences in working memory, planning, initiation and cognitive flexibility. When several of these skills are required simultaneously, the cognitive load can become overwhelming.

2. Protective structures and rigid coping mechanisms

During stable periods, individuals develop routines and ways of doing things that help them function. However, when someone has repeatedly experienced failure, criticism or uncertainty, they may begin to rely even more heavily on these structures because they provide a sense of stability and control.

The difficulty arises when a transition disrupts that stability. What worked before may no longer work, but changing these patterns can feel threatening because they have become an important way of coping.

3. Negative experiences and the dream

This is where I want to bring Levinson’s idea of the dream back into the picture. When individuals repeatedly experience failure, criticism or a sense of not being good enough, it can change how they look at the future.

Instead of thinking about what they want to achieve, they may become preoccupied with whether they will succeed, whether they will get things wrong or whether they will experience failure all over again. The dream becomes less about possibility and more about worry, fear and uncertainty. Thoughts like,

“Will I succeed?”

“How will I even do my job?"

“I’m scared I’ll fail again.”

Over time, this anxiety can contribute to emotional distress and may coexist with other difficulties, such as anxiety disorders or depression. When so much emotional energy is spent anticipating failure or managing distress, there may be less capacity available to consider alternatives, adapt to change and access cognitive flexibility.

This is where the cycle becomes difficult to break. The individual needs cognitive flexibility to navigate the transition, but the emotional demands of that transition can make it harder to access.

Developing cognitive flexibility can help individuals consider alternatives, challenge the belief that past experiences determine future outcomes, and begin to see possibilities beyond the fear of failure.

How do we start building cognitive flexibility?

Building cognitive flexibility doesn't always require complicated activities. Sometimes, it starts with the little things we do every day.

Build Awareness

This is something that has worked particularly well in my own practice. Depending on the individual’s age and understanding, explicitly explaining that we are working on flexible thinking can help them recognise when they are getting stuck. Sometimes, simply asking, “Is this working for you?” or “Can we think about this differently?” is the first step.

Prepare for transitions

Things don't always go according to plan, and transitions often mean that familiar ways of doing things change. Preparing individuals for these changes and thinking through a Plan A, Plan B or even Plan C gives them different options to rely on. It helps them recognise that when one approach doesn't work, they can try another.

Build support systems

Support systems help reduce the cognitive load associated with executive functioning, leaving more emotional capacity to manage change and access cognitive flexibility. This could mean breaking tasks down, providing structure or having someone help navigate the unfamiliar, especially during transitions.

Practise through play*

Playing different games/ sports is a simple way to practise flexible thinking- one in which one have to keep shifting their attention and changing your strategy.

Change the rule halfway through: instead of making words beginning with C, switch to B. In strategy games such as Blokus or Qwirkle, you have to keep adapting your moves as the game develops.

The idea is to give individuals opportunities to practise changing their approach in a low-pressure setting so that when they encounter change in everyday life, they have some experience of thinking differently.

*Personal Note: This method is great for every age group. So never stop playing, have more game nights, participate in sporting activities, keeps your cognitively flexible!

Summary

1. Life transitions require cognitive flexibility: Levinson’s stage-crisis view describes adulthood as a process of building and rebuilding life structures, dreams and commitments. Transitions require us to reassess our expectations and adapt to change.

2. Inflexibility can have an emotional cost: When we struggle to update our mental frameworks, expectations may no longer match reality. This can increase frustration, affect self-esteem and contribute to self-defeating patterns.

3. Transitions can be particularly challenging for neurodivergent individuals: Moving from school to university, for example, can bring greater demands on planning, working memory, initiation and organisation. Familiar routines and support structures may no longer be available.

4. Past experiences can shape future expectations: Repeated experiences of failure or criticism can make individuals more fearful of future challenges. This anxiety can make cognitive flexibility harder to access, creating a cycle that is difficult to break.

5. Cognitive flexibility can be developed throughout life: Building awareness of flexible thinking, preparing for transitions, creating support systems and practising through games and sports can help individuals explore alternatives, adapt their strategies and approach change with greater confidence.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this piece. Subscribe to Understanding ET for more on neurodiversity, learning and development.

Subscibe

Coming up next: Transitions in academics and the workplace, with a focus on learning difficulties.

References: