Change...like waves on the beach

 

Greetings!

How many of you enjoy a day at the beach? It is one of my favorite places to relax, rid myself of stress, reflect, and rejuvenate. Smelling the sea air, feeling the sand between my toes, enjoying the vitamin D from the sun, and watching the endless comings and goings of the waves. Ahhhhh yes!

One way to think about change is that change is like waves on the beach. Just like change, waves are relentless and can be powerful, and there are only three things you can do with a wave: let it knock you down, survive it, or ride it. Let us take a closer look at each of these three ways to handle change.

 

We let the waves of change knock us down when we take the dead roach approach to change - flat on our back, feet in the air and just out of control. What a visual!

You can tell you are taking this approach when you say things such as:

"I'm so stressed out!"

"I can't take this!"

"This isn't fair!"

"Why does this always have to happen to me?"

 

Does not surviving change sound like a good thing to want to do? Though in a few cases it is really the only thing you can do, it really is not the optimal approach to take. I do not know about you, but merely surviving does not sound like a very compelling way to live.

If you are thinking or saying these things, you have probably settled on merely surviving:

"How can I get through this?"

"What's the worst that could happen here?"

"I don't know if I can take this."

"What can I do to get by?"

The problem with taking a survival approach is that you just merely get by. When you are ready to do more than just get by, it is time to begin managing change.

 

Riding the waves of change means seeing things from a different point of view, rather than looking out at the waves you are looking toward land from the sea. Think of riding the waves as the process of making change work for you.

Here are some questions to ask to begin to learn how to thrive on change:

How can I make this work for me?

What is good about this?

What does this change allow me to do that I could not do before?

What positive things might this change force me to do?

 

Change is inevitable. How we handle it is optional. Make the choice to ride the waves and you are likely to create a compelling life for yourself.

 

Until next month,

 

Nyda