Most of us are creatures of habit and don’t like change. Change can be scary. But change is also a great opportunity for growth. When we have to make a change and do things differently, it doesn’t feel good especially when we were comfortable with the way we were doing things before, even if it was not good for us.
Examples of this are having to change our eating habits, exercise routine, living environment, personal relationships, and the list goes on.
Here’s what I have found personally about having to make changes that do not feel comfortable. It really makes me look at what is important to me and what is not. There are things about the change that I definitely like and want to keep, things about the change that make me evaluate what I have and how I have been doing things, and things that I definitely do not like and do not want to keep. It puts me right smack in the middle of myself, my true self, because it forces me to see that which I value and that which I can let go of.
I think that if we can see change as an opportunity to clarify our goals and dreams and values, then it is of great value to us, especially when we know that the change is necessary for personal, professional, financial or spiritual reasons. As we read about all the time, those who have made their dreams happen do it from trial and error and from making changes and risking to fail. We learn from our mistakes. That is not to say that change is easy. It isn’t. It’s much more comfortable to stay with what is familiar. The saying “the devil we know is better than the devil we don’t” could be rephrased to “the devil we know is preventing us from the good we don’t know yet.”
How many people do you read about who have gone from failing relationships, jobs, health, and self-esteem to lives that are thriving? There are many. My advice on this is to give ourselves credit for the bold steps we take to break away from what is comfortable but not working in our lives. We need to take baby steps and acknowledge each and every one of them. It’s like climbing a mountain. If we look at the top from the bottom, the climb seems insurmountable. But if we take each step steadily, pause in the process and keep going, it’s amazing how far we have come when we look back.
Acknowledgement of ourselves and our strengths is vital. The foundation is built upon our own self-esteem and worth. Without that, the foundation crumbles. We need to think things out, weigh possibilities and alternatives and foresee consequences. Once we do that, we can make a clear decision based on the information we have now – not tomorrow. Then we can proceed without looking back.