How Do You Cope With Change?

Michael Anthony says 'people hate change - that's the prevalent wisdom offered whenever things don't work out as planned'.  He goes on to say 'truth is - people love change! People change their clothes, hairstyle, jobs, homes, cars, offices and they travel to new places'.

You will often hear people say, 'I need a change, I want to do something different.'

Change - that thing everybody is supposedly afraid of - is a normal, natural part of life.  We cannot get away from it.  Gail Sheey says that 'if we don't change, we don't grow.  If we don't grow, we aren't really living.'

So, given that constant change is a reality we must face, how can you see it as a positive, rather than a negative?

To begin, you can readjust your viewpoint, change your mind about why things change and determine your role in the change.  Instead of fighting a change, we can learn to see it as a new adventure.  Then we can get to learning about and enjoying the new adventure, instead of wasting our time and energy looking back at something that is no longer real.

Dr. Wolf Schmacher notes the four most common reasons that people resist change:

- A desire not to lose something of value

- A misunderstanding of the change and its implication

- A belief that the change does not make sense

- A low tolerance for change

If you are feeling anxious about the changes going on around you, examine your feelings using the four points above.  You may be able to identify why you feel uncomfortable, and then you would have some solid basis for making decisions.

- Joe Freeman

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