A lot of people I know (me included sometimes) hate change.  I was thinking about this the other day and it occurred to me that it’s not really change we hate but something else.

Change is just a part of life.  If we never changed then we’d still all be in diapers crawling around our living rooms, right?  So why is it that change is so dreaded?

What I came up with is that there are two components of change we don’t like.

1. Change imposed on us – No one likes to feel imposed on.  And when we feel like someone or something is “making” us change we’re probably going to rebel against it (at least inwardly).
2. Stress/anxiety caused by change – Even when we welcome the change (buying a new house, getting married, starting a new job, etc.) we almost never welcome the stress leading up to that change.  For instance…everyone wants to pull up the drive in their perfectly furnished and decorated new dream home but who likes the idea of mortgage paperwork, packing, moving and getting settled in?

So how do we deal with those?  The trick is to…

Embrace Change and Focus on the End Result

What I mean by this is stay focused on the end result and let the little things take care of themselves.

If it’s “imposed change” (house burns down, get laid off from a job, etc) there really may be nothing we can do about it.  But we CAN choose our attitude and step by step, embrace what is while focusing on the end result we want.  For instance, I know someone who’s house burnt down and they used the insurance money to rebuild it with some changes that made it much more suited to their family.  And the loss of a job could lead to an even better opportunity.  Remember the old saying – When God closes a door he opens a window.

For change we want, even though it’s exciting it’s also easy to get overwhelmed by the details.  Planning a wedding and moving are classic examples of this.  To embrace change simply take things one step at a time and before you know it you WILL be coming home from that fabulous honeymoon with lots of great memories, or driving home from work to your brand new house!

Here’s to exciting new opportunties and experiences :^)