Embracing the Gift of Change can help you on your journey to Live Your Best Life! Out of all of the many lessons I teach my elementary students year after year, there’s one I make sure to convey in addition to the “Life is not fair” one. I teach them the two hardest things in life to do are to say hello and goodbye. This is because whenever you say hello to someone or something enters your life, you are inviting the risk of uncertainty. Whenever you say goodbye to someone or something exiting your life, you are inviting loss. In both cases, you are inviting change and for most people, change is an unwelcome guest.
Change is Constant
Some lucky people are naturally born embracing change. Others learn to embrace it through age, experience, and time. For the majority of people though, change is viewed negatively. It is something to be feared and avoided instead of embraced. No matter how it’s handled, the one fact about change is that it’s constant. As the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus is quoted as saying “The only constant is change”.
Change Brings Along Uncertainty
You can always count on change to be part of your natural existence and it can be planned or unplanned. Although you might feel more in control when you invite change into your life, the outcome of the invitation is just as uncertain as it is with unplanned change. Planned or unplanned, change still brings the chance of risk and loss.
But Change Also Brings Gifts
It is this very uncertainty that’s at the core of the fear and dread tied to change. We falsely expect life to be certain but it’s not. We have arrogant expectations about what we feel life should give us or how we feel it should be. When life does not turn out the way we expect and unexpected changes come our way, we can react negatively. What we don’t understand though, is that it is through change we learn how to become stronger, wiser, and more capable human beings.
View Change Differently
You can learn to stop rowing against the tide of change, (or jumping out of the boat completely) and instead row with the tide simply by adapting your mindset to take on a more positive tone. How you view and react to change is the only control you have. Start viewing change as…
- The chance for a new adventure
- An opportunity to experience something new
- A way to grow and evolve as a person
- An avenue to becoming a better and more capable person.
The Gifts Change Can Bring
Instead of viewing change as a reason to give up, use it as a reason to grow. Change is always a gift in disguise. When I look back on my life, every tragic event has led to something greater.
Not being able to have my own children – A more present and involved, teacher
Loss of my daughter – The understanding of grief and the empathy to help others suffering through this type of loss
Loving an Addict – The healing of codependency and childhood trauma
Divorce – A stronger, healthier marriage to a man I deserve, the chance to be a stepmother and an aunt
Cancer – Making healthier lifestyle changes
What gifts have changes in your life brought you?
Welcoming the Gift of Change
These are only some examples of unplanned, tragic changes I’ve faced. My life, just as yours, has been filled with many other unplanned as well as planned changes throughout the years. ALL of these changes have shaped me into the person I am today. I am only wiser, stronger, more capable, and kind because each time I encountered change, I decided to face it and grow through it. Here are some tips to help you start welcoming the gift of change into your life.
- Ask yourself this question regarding the change. “What is the opportunity/gift in this change?” If you look for the gift of change as planned and unplanned events happen in your life, you will find it.
- When faced with change (especially of the tragic kind), it is normal to first feel in denial. It is also quite normal to suffer some emotional pain. Allow yourself twenty minutes to feel and then pick yourself up and move on. Anything longer than 20 minutes is self-inflicted.
- Choose Acceptance. Plain and simple, accept the change. Acceptance gives you the power of a clear head, paving a plan to move forward.
- Choose your attitude. While you are not able to control the change, you can control your attitude towards it. You choose to react positively or negatively and it’s all up to you.
- Make yourself accountable every day for facing your fears and fulfilling your potential as a human being. You owe it to yourself and those you love to be the best version of yourself.
- Stop comparing your life to what it was. The changes in your life are meant for you and your growth. You are not the person you were and so will not fit the life you once had. Move forward instead of dwelling in the past.
I will admit, despite all I’ve faced, grown, and come out ahead from, I still struggle when I encounter change. I believe this is due to my genetic make-up, personality, and how my beginning life experiences shaped me. I have found the tips I shared with you to lessen the discomfort though. I read and reread my own words and repeat them to myself as many times as needed to get me through.
I invite you to try the same and to start welcoming change into your life instead of fighting against or hiding from it. Hopefully, you will begin to recognize the enormous opportunity that welcoming the gift of change will bring to your life.
Live Your Best Life and Embrace the Gift Of Change!
Want more information on Change? How about checking out our YouTube Channel and this short 👇🏽.
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