If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living. Gail Sheehy
Although I embraced change when I introduced my new website and blog, I’m often slow to accept it. I take time to warm up to change. Like my little corgi that balks when I pull on her leash, I resist change at first.
Yet, when you think about it, our whole lives have been nothing but change. Reflecting on it recently, I took note of all the change in my life. Elementary school to junior high—that was big because I was soon to discover “boys.” High school to college—another biggie because it meant freedom. Well, sort of. I remember the lecture my dad gave me freshman year.
There were several milestone changes in my life, the most important being marriage. Going from my parents’ house to my own with a new husband was certainly stressful and momentous, although at the time I embraced that change big time.
Childbirth, a newborn, the second child. My two children have had a profound, everlasting effect on my life. And then there’s the grandchildren who I can always send home.
There have been job changes—corporate buyouts and cutbacks. Moves. New homes. Divorce. And aging. The change to your body as you age is an unwelcome one. Where did that fat belly come from anyway? I haven’t changed eating habits. I exercise. What’s going on? And then there are the little aches and pains, the eyes that go bad, the feet that go flat. I don’t need those changes.
What do you think about ebooks? Did you accept them or resist them? Did you buy a Nook or a Kindle? Do you have an iPad? Just think of the young people who don’t remember not having a cell phone or texting messages. Gee, now I feel old.
Time: 1968 My heroine Kathleen Fields in A Groovy Christmas reflects on change early on in the story.
Times were changing. Kids and clothes and music were changing. Starting with the British Invasion of the Beatles and Rolling Stones a few years earlier, life seemed to have sped up. Nothing was sacred and nothing the same.
Did you know, in 1964 the Beatles arrived in New York for their first U.S. tour and an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, touching off Beatlemania. For those alive at that time this was a big change. For the rest of you, just trust me. It was.
So, what is your approach to change? Do you embrace it or resist it? What change in your life has had the most impact?