A Little Bit About…Change

Sometimes we see change coming, sometimes we don’t.

In my 3^rd year of high school they announced they were building a new school and we would be “temporarily” relocated for two years to two different buildings. Right in the middle of our most important school years: our exams!

In my 3^rd year of University, just as I finally figured out which building was which and had a great group of friends, it was time to pack up my little life and start my 4^th year at a brand new University, this time in Spain.

In my first job once I graduated, I was lucky enough to be part of a programme which moved us around every 3 months, department to department learning about different areas of the business. New boss, new team, new learning curves every 3 months.

Just over 3 years ago, I decided to change things up again and go on the adventure of a lifetime, moving back to Spain to start a new job.

You would probably think that after all of that, I’d like change, right? Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret…I’m don’t. And that’s ok.

If anything, I’m used to change. I can handle it, maybe even more so than some. But it doesn’t mean I don’t go through the same rollercoaster of emotions as everyone else every time sometime changes and throws me for a loop.

Change can be good or it can be bad, big or small, expected or unexpected, immediate or gradual, deliberate or accidental. But most importantly it can be welcomed or feared, embraced or resisted.

There’s a quote by British writer Alan Wilson Watts which says “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it and join the dance”. And that’s exactly what I tell myself every single time something in my life changes, be it good or bad.

Over time, I’ve learnt my own way to deal with change and that is firstly allowing myself to freak-out, fully embracing any or all of possible emotions like denial, anger, sadness, happiness, excitement, fear. Then once I’m done…I just take it in my stride.

You can probably tell the whole reason I’m writing this is because change has come calling. Well you’d be right (I’m as subtle as a brick sometimes, I know, it’s a great quality of mine). However, this change is more like a combination of lots of little changes which seem to all have happened at once. It’s nothing big, bad or scary. It’s nothing I can’t handle. But it’s still change. So I guess there’s nothing else for it…time to man up and “join the dance”.

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