The issue with change is not so much what we think of change, but rather how we react to change. In all honesty, there are probably few words that throw up such a kaleidoscope of emotions and differing interpretations for us.
In some ways, change is exciting. We all want our lives to improve, after all, there is no progress without change. However, the word also holds some very negative connotations.
If you look up synonyms for ‘changeable’ you will find words such as: ‘volatile’, ‘uncertain’, ‘unsettled’, ‘unstable’. All of those can make us feel ‘insecure’, ‘vulnerable’ and ‘unsure’.
There is a part of us which likes to feel secure and safe and change clearly goes against that. However, after change has occurred, we very often call it ‘progress’, ‘evolution’, ‘advancement’ or ‘growth’; words which bring out far more positive emotions from within us.
Therefore, it appears that it is not change itself that scares us so much as the transition process that it entails. We like the stability of things as they are ‘now’. Now feels safe because we know what to expect.
Perhaps it is not change that we fear so much as the loss of control that we associate with change. Change inherently carries an element of risk. Sometimes that fear, that perceived risk, is so daunting that it prevents us making changes that we need to despite our unhappiness with our current situation.
At the other end of the scale, there are times when we have probably all been guilty of making changes just for the sake it. We change our hair color, we change the layout of our bedroom, we may even change jobs.
I used to change jobs every 4 months, as I couldn’t find the ‘right job’ for me. At some level, I believed that when I found the ‘right job’ I would be happy. However, it was then pointed out to me that you can move to the moon if you want but nothing will really change because you are still taking ‘You’ with you.
Why do we do that? We do it to distract ourselves from making the changes in our life that really matter. In reality, it might be our choice of career that is making us unhappy, but we will change the color of our hair ‘just to make ourselves feel better’, because that is an ‘easy change’.
Seeing as change is inevitable, why not embrace it, analyze it and use it? Use it as an opportunity to measure what your life, and course correct. Seize change as your key to success. How else are we going to grow?
As a final point, I will give you a quote by Charles Darwin: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
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This article was edited and distributed by Mark Walters on behalf of Mandy Swift, who was the original author. Learn More : Secrets Of Success