The issue with change is less to do with what we think of change, but rather how we react to it. Truth be told, there are probably few words that throw up such a kaleidoscope of emotions and differing interpretations for us.
On the one hand, we find change exciting. We all want our lives to be ‘different’ in some way, after all, no positive progress can be made without change. However, the word can be viewed in a negative light, as change is as likely to be bad as it is good.
Synonyms for the word ‘changeable’ include: ‘uncertain’, ‘volatile’, ‘unsettled’, ‘unstable’. All of those can make us feel ‘insecure’, ‘vulnerable’ and ‘unsure’.
There is a small corner in all of us that likes to feel safe and secure and change clearly goes against that. However, once 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 – that step into the unknown. We like the stability of things as they presently are. Now feels safe because we know what to expect; yet our ‘now’ is changing every day.
Maybe it is not change that we fear, rather it is the loss of control that we associate with change. Change inherently carries an element of risk. Sometimes that perceived risk is so big that it keeps us where we are now despite the current discomforts.
Then, there are times when we have all been guilty of making changes just for the sake it. We change the color of our hair, we change the layout of the living room furniture, we may even change where we work.
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, someone once 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 avoid making the changes that really matter in our lives. In reality, it might be our choice of career which is the cause of our unhappiness, but we will change our hair color ‘just to cheer ourselves up’, because that is an ‘easy change’.
Seeing as change can not be avoided, only delayed, why not embrace it, analyze it and use it? Use it as an opportunity to measure what is going right or wrong, and to get yourself back on track and focused. Seize change as your master 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