The word CHANGE is a 6 letter word that many people find almost as offensive as any 4 letter word that your mom would have washed your mouth out with soap for saying. Just ask an 80 year old back pew Baptist if they want change and you can assure yourself of a nasty scolding!
John Campbell said that “We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” Wow, that is a novel idea to consider that we are not giving up something with change but rather opening ourselves up for a better something along the way.
We all experience change in our lives. Change of getting older, change in jobs, change in relationships, change in location and more importantly change in ourselves. It is simply a fact of life that change will come but the reality of how we deal with change is something not as concrete.
Most recently our lives were changed with the diagnosis of our then 15 year old having cancer. Before this our lives changed when we adjusted from me being a stay-at-home mom to working mom. Years before this we picked up our family and moved from all our family in Texas to Florida. We changed the size of family from two to three to four to five.... Just a select few changes that have shaped me from who I was starting out in life to who I am today.
Change does not have to be a nasty word it can just be a new normal.
1. Location, Location, Location....
Anyone in business will tell you that the success of a business can be merely the placement of where you are. This is true in any one's life. If you are physically in a spot where you are not thriving then a simple change of your location can improve the outcome of your circumstances. At times this might require a change of neighborhoods, a change of jobs or even as simple as a change of which side of the argument you stand on if you find that you are wrong.
2. It is okay to attempt change more than once.....
If you are like me change can sometimes take practice. You might make two steps forward and one step back but at least you are moving in a direction closer to where you want to be. For me this is like my weight.... I drop pounds to find them again along with some of their friends who decide to come along for the journey. However, I am thankful for the hundreds of pounds shed over the years so that I don't weigh as much as an elephant. Each little pound lost, even gained back, was something I am not carrying today.
3. Unexpected change can be the most life changing....
When we have not planned changed but it comes upon us a like a tsunami hitting a third world country we are forced to find out what we are really made of. We learn what we can handle and what we can't. In the midst of the waves crashing and drowning us is when learn how to come up for the air that will sustain us.
4. Have an anchor for change....
For me, my family is my anchor.
Sometimes when change starts rolling it is hard not to get caught up in and lose sight of what is really needing to be changed. For example, you can decide to change your look with a new haircut and before you know it you are so obsessed with change that you become like Michael Jackson and almost unrecognizable to even those who love you most.
It is okay if you are changing and someone you trust pulls you back a little. It might be that you still proceed but with a little more caution and hopefully a clearer vision of what you want.
5. Don't forget the caterpillar....
Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over he became a butterfly - unknown
When change comes by planning or by surprise don't treat it as life is over or that nothing more will come. The whole purpose of life is the journey that you go through in each stage in life. It can be hard, it can be painful and it can also be tons of fun.
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