Dealing with Change

According to Webster, change is "to become different, to pass from one phase to another, to undergo transformation and transition."Life is one change after the other, and you can't enjoy it if you're scared all the time. They say the only constant in life is change. The rest of it is a constantly shifting, ever-moving collection of circumstances. Each circumstance and each choice affects its neighbor like wobbly dominoes placed in rows. Accepting change, learning to adapt, to cope, and ultimately to triumph through it, is an underrated skill.

Sometimes you just want to change. Other times, change seems to be forced up you. In either event, change can be a very stressful time in your life. When dealing with a change that has been forced upon you, you can make two choices: you can decide to be a victim of circumstance, or you can decide to take control of your life and make the best of the situation. Our ability to cope with change varies from the type of person we are, to how strong we feel at the time, what else is going on for us at the time and our level of stress.

There are a few key facts to try and remember when facing a change. Set a goal for change. The goal might be to view all change as manageable. Recognize change for what it is, reorganize as necessary to deal with it and adapt as soon as possible to it.  Remember, nobody can guarantee stability or permanence. Similarly, nobody owes you a living, a job or high morale. Enhance your skills at every chance, read widely, learn all you can and be a high-speed adapter and problem solver. Hard work, tenacity, adaptability and risk taking will help, too. Focus on the future. You don't have to feel happy and warm all over about the change that occurred. Just deal with it and move along. Change is rarely a dead-end street. Instead it offers opportunities, each with its own separate pros and cons. When you are confronted with change, allow yourself to explore mentally all the options the change will provide. You may find that the positives far outweigh the negatives. If, instead, you find the negatives have the upper hand, take time to brainstorm possible solutions or consider rethinking the change.

Successfully managing the problems, hassles and challenges of everyday life requires flexibility, adaptiveness and good problem solving skills. We develop these abilities through practice and can teach them to our children by helping them see alternatives, problem solve and evaluate options. The ability to have some perspective on one’s problems is a trait often seen in those who have the ability to “bounce back”. A sense of perspective allows us to look at our problems with some distance, if only for a moment. We might even see some humor in our situation. At the very least, perspective taking provides us the opportunity to examine our situation with some objectivity and to know that no matter how intense our fear or pain is, everything, including our feelings, is in constant motion. Just as winter turns to spring, so it is that at the peak of our fear and pain we may suddenly have a shift that expands our perspective. However we are feeling right now shall pass.

Change-adept individuals compensate for the demands and pressures of business by developing counterbalancing activities in other areas of their lives. They engage in exercise programs and healthful eating habits, they cultivate interests outside of the workplace—sports, hobbies, art, music, and so on—that are personally fulfilling, and they have sources of emotional support. Because employees with counterbalance have fuller, richer lives, they handle business-related stress better and are more effective on the job.

Consider change as a new challenge, the more challenges you take upon now gives you more experience, the more experienced you are at different situations the better you learn to adapt when the tide turns. Change makes us adaptive to hardships and challenges make us stronger. Our immense capabilities remain hidden in the folds of comfort; a change in the routine or our lives brings forward the endurance power we all have. Change stirs our lives and that is good, it brings us out of our comfort zones and sets up some new endurance levels, to test and to accommodate to a new lifestyle.