Six Things You Can Do To Embrace Change
In Margaret Mitchell's book, Gone with the Wind, she writes, "Death, taxes, and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them.
Benjamin Franklin was quoted to say, "In this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.
I want to add to that line of thinking about CHANGE. Although it is not always convenient or easy, CHANGE, like death, taxes, and childbirth, is INEVITABLE and not always timely.
"Change is inevitable. Growth is optional." ~ John C. Maxwell
I believe this so much that I named my business A Tail of New Beginnings and added the tag line, A Lifelong Journey. As each day is a new beginning, and we all are on a lifelong journey of changing and growing.
Before I became a life coach, I experienced many of life's changes in a negative light. I would often think, if only I could go back and change this or that perhaps my life would have been better and filled with less heartache. The rearview mirror was the lens through which I viewed the world. I spent too much energy reflecting on what I thought were bad decisions and often regretted many of my life's choices. This was partly due to my lack of trust in myself and my intuition.
Through a lot of hard work and dedication towards personal growth, I learned to trust my intuition. Through trial and error, I came to realize my intuition was pretty much right ALL the time. Trusting it and myself to make better decisions has improved my life tremendously. I’m glad I’ve finally learned to listen.
Why Change?
Embracing change is vital to our health and well-being, and resistances can create heartache and disease and that being open to change can pave a safer path to growth.
As humans, there is a natural tendency for people to do what they have always done. The status quo! However, we all know that if you do the same thing repeatedly, you get the same results, and the consequences can be disastrous.
Big or small, changes will eventually touch all aspects of our lives, and without it, there is stagnation. Changes will come; they always do. It's a constant! Change can happen in a split second, overnight, and over time. We all know what a pandemic can do to cause change. Good, threatening, or ugly growth shows up if we allow it.
Resistance to change
Change isn't always easy. It takes work, and it takes patience, and changes we want to make don’t usually don't happen overnight.
Time – A lot of time can go into making changes. If you're someone who doesn't exercise and wants to get fit, you’ll have to do the work to make it happen. You'll need to establish a new routine, take the time to plan and cook healthy meals. More importantly, you’ll have to make yourself a priority to see the changes you want to make.
Fear – People are afraid that if they change, they may risk losing something or someone. There is a loss that would take place to gain something else.
Unknown – Change can be scary. If we don't know the outcome of the change, fear can set in.
Regret – Often, there is regret that goes along with not changing. If only I had done this or that.
Risk – We risk losing someone or something, our health, for example, if we refuse to see the need for change personally and professionally.
Without change, we can't grow as a person; we remain stagnant.
If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” ~ Gail Sheehy
How to change?
- Let go of the past; it no longer serves you. If you're hanging on to the past like I was, you'll find bitterness and slow progress in finding healing.
- If you don't know what you want, find someone to help you figure it out.
- Acceptance will help you embrace change. Journal about it, become bold and find your strength. You are strong and can be a warrior for yourself; you need to see it inside you.
- If you don't value yourself, find someone to help you find your value.
- Find someone you admire who has walked the path you'd like to take and enlist their help.
- Find an accountability buddy—someone who also wants to make changes.
Through my own trials and errors, I have also learned that nurturing ourselves is vitally important for us to move through changes, especially with what’s happening in the world today.
So, be kind to yourself! Give yourself the grace of ease and reach out and hold the hands of the people who love and care about you. Hold space for yourself and believe life is worth every bit of energy we put into it.
You are stronger than you think!