“Make a change.” It sounds like a simple, totally doable statement. Yet for some it is one of the hardest things to do. You may thrive on change or you may hate it. Either way, one thing is for sure: Change will always be part of life.
There are two types of change:
- The change we cannot control.
- The change that we can control.
Change you cannot control
Some change just happens and there’s nothing we can do. We just have to roll with the punches. This is the change that allows us to work on giving up control. All you can do is control your reaction to the change; you cannot control the change itself. (Yes, it stinks. But that’s life. Roll with it!)
Change you CAN control
Oftentimes, we need to make change and want to make change and are entirely capable of making the change, yet we can’t seem to make it happen. We say we are going to do it, then we don’t. We put a plan in place, and we don’t execute. We get excited, but we don’t take the next step. A little voice nags at us. (Someone today told me she calls that voice “The hag in the attic”. Love it!) We start to beat ourselves up for not having willpower. The Hag says “I can’t!”. She said ‘This will fail. It won’t work. I’m not worthy.” It’s a downward spiral from there. Often into self-loathing: “I suck!” (Sound familiar?)
The thing is, that voice hates change. So it will always tell you the worst-case scenario. It wants to be comfy.
Let me tell you a secret: Willpower is bullshit.
Change will not happen until the pain of whatever is driving the change is too great to bear. You simply cannot take it anymore. Then, and only then, will change happen.
Here is the key: You have to step into your fear (and in front of the hag!). Step into it and fear will subside. No matter how hard and how scary change appears, it is never ever as hard or scary as you think it’ll be. Ever.
If I could, I’d give you 5 easy steps to make change. But there are no easy steps. Change is never easy. It takes balls. The only way to do it (and I know from a lifetime of making change) is to just to do it. Say “Fuck it! I’m doing it!” and leap. Jump in with both feet. Heck, even head first. And everytime one of two things will happen:
- The change will be excellent and way better than you could have imagined, or
- The change will suck. But you’ll learn something. You’ll never regret trying. And you’ll stand up and repeat.
No one is going to get out of this life alive, friends.
Make a change: TAKE THE LEAP!