The currents of change flow constantly through our lives. Thich Nhat Hanh said that “without change there is no life.” The world we live in seems especially volatile with the increasing development of AI, wars around the globe, climate instability, financial turmoil, polarization and unrest, and scores of other challenges. Many of these currents of change are largely beyond our control. There are areas that we have more control and influence over: our health, our workplace, relationships with family and friends, our spirituality, learning and knowledge, the choices we make for food, entertainment, and travel, and many more things. Change may come suddenly. Change may be more incremental. But it is present and inevitable in all aspects of our life. How we choose to navigate these inexorable currents of change impacts how we grow and how we experience the world.
One thing we can do is determine how we think about change. LAP’s Deputy Director Tony Pacione often reminds us that we can choose to act on our hopes or act out of our fears. Thinking of change as an opportunity for growth, we can then seize this as an opportunity. To do so we must prepare ourselves mentally and emotionally for the challenge. Recognize and acknowledge that change is often frightening and anxiety provoking. Change threatens many important things including our safety, freedom, status, feelings of belonging or fairness, perhaps even our identity. Talk with others about your feelings. Acknowledge to yourself that they are valid responses to the threats of change.
Maintain your regular routines whenever possible. This will help calm anxiety in the face of change. Identify those things which are in your control. Exercise that control for your own benefit. Prioritize activities like exercise, eating well, connecting with friends, hobbies, and mindfulness exercises. Accept those things which are beyond your control. Resist the urge to resist change that is beyond your influence. Remind yourself of your resilience, recognizing times in the past when you’ve steered successfully through the currents of change. Act in accordance with your core beliefs which can be valuable constants as change swirls around.
Evaluate the situation. Set reasonable expectations, avoiding rose colored glasses or doomsday thinking. Set some specific and attainable goals, both short term and long term, and a plan to achieve them. Work toward those goals with the support and advice of others.
The Serenity Prayer, written by theologian Reinhold Niebur, is a good outline of a successful approach to change:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
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