Change: Driving or Distressing

Life-transitions can be challenging. The thoughts and actions that bring us success at one phase in life may become hindrances during another. Things that used to offer meaning may now seem flat or even pointless. Whether transition is occurring in relationships, career, family structure, or lifestyle, we can be certain that change is necessary. Transitions are an integral part of our personal growth. Navigating transitions can be difficult and even painful, but with an optimized outlook, change can be seen as not only necessary but also as an exciting, creative, regenerative process.

How do you navigate change? Do you dig in your heels and resist? Do you throw up your hands and give up? Do you find yourself feeling depressed and alone? Do you blame others or outside circumstances? Do you become creative and proactive? Do you feel empowered?There are as many ways of facing change as there are individuals, and no two people respond to or experience change in exactly the same way. However, for simplicity’s sake, we will talk about two basic patterns that one may follow: the driver or the distressed.

The driver sees change as an opportunity to steer life in a new direction, to create new opportunities and new meanings. Perhaps there is no map, but drivers understand that they steer their destiny. They acknowledge their choices at each intersection. They feel empowered by choice, and they act upon their dreams.

Conversely, the distressed see change as a threat to all they hold near and dear. They feel threatened by the thought of anything new or different. Change seems to be put upon them by forces outside of their control, and the distressed suffer because these outside forces seem to have an autonomy that they do not.

Perhaps you have found yourself with a mixture of feeling like both a driver and a distress-er in varying degrees. The thing to remember is that you may not have a choice about the fact that change occurs, but you do have a choice in how you respond to it. Just because one method of response is comfortable or familiar to you doesn’t mean it is the only way to look at things. You can learn new response patterns, and that does not mean, “Fake it till you make it;” it means you learn to view things deeply and deliberately through a new lens.

Research shows that resilience can be learned and enhanced at any age. You do not have to be stuck in response patterns that no longer serve you! In fact, the idea that life is a straight-trajectory of endless building is one of our most self-defeating, false assumptions. Life must include starting new projects, evolving, dissolving, letting go, and reconstructing. This is a normal cycle and one we can learn to embrace with curiosity, vitality, and creativity.

I want to help you love your life. Email me at lifeview4me@gmail.com, visit my website www.lifeview4me.com, or call 830 955-7500

#Process #Change #LifeViewSouljourns #DrLisaKvetonBohnert #Dancers #Athletes #Coaching