How are You Managing Change?

It seems like the only constant is change. The forces of change are acting on our lives in every area. Just to list a few: geo-political, economic, natural disasters, terrorism/wars, accelerated information exchange, family transitions (marriage, divorce, children, loss of loved ones), career(buy-outs, layoffs, promotions), moving, starting college, etc.. These events bring change whether we welcomed them or not.

The spectrum change can vary from creating pleasure to pain. It is a force that can add to our stress or it can become a stepping stone and opportunity for growth and advancement. How we respond will determine the outcomes we achieve.

Changes can come to us in smaller doses which are incremental and manageable or we may have to drink it through a fire hose. The small stuff isn’t to bad. Realize that a lot of small changes can add up and take their toll. When we adapt thinking and remain flexible working with our support system, all is typically good.

Accelerated and numerous change brings us into crisis mode. When events happen quickly, you don’t have the time, energy or solutions to manage them effectively. We often don’t have control of these changes. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough “processing time” to make the internal adjustments. It really tests what we are made of in our character and if we have the internal strength to resist it’s pressure.

We went through a 18 month transition where we experienced 5 major loss and a job change. For our family, this was really big. If it wasn’t for our friends and family that were supporting us, I don’t think we would have made it. We did not see any of this coming and didn’t plan or prepare. I am not sure we could have. In the we were better from it, but it could have destroyed us. Now we can help people in ways that we new and different based on our experience. We can certainly provide greater empathy and insights.

Regardless of the type of change you are facing, change requires a response on our behalf. The big questions is, how do you respond to changes that have been imposed upon you that were not your choice?

Take a moment to think about all the changes that have been acting on your life for the past 18 months.

Make a list.
Assess how big or small the change was
Were they positive or negative or neutral.
Count how many changes there where.

Now evaluate your responses to all these changes.

How did you cope?
How did you manage success?
What type of support base did you have?
What would have done differently?

The important take away from this article is that we are all continuously exposed to the forces of change in our lives. How we respond to these change can give us a lot of insight about who we are. It can provide a basis for understanding how we can develop new thinking and behaviors.

We do have a choice to make with every change that comes our way whether it is big or small, good or bad. Although it seem that change is constant in our lives and is the norm, don’t let it rule over you. Our choices can move us in a direction the brings us greater success and can help others around us.