Change can be unsettling, uncomfortable and unwelcomed. When life changes and becomes harder for you to cope, it is a test of your courage, stamina, and heart.
Facing change may be difficult. You might pull the covers over your head or run like the dickens in the other direction. Or, you might freeze in place like a deer in the headlights. Can you relate?
Yet without change, you don’t grow, learn resilience or build strength to withstand adversity. Aside from all that, you can’t get away from it.
What I mean is: life is change and change is life—like it or not. Some changes you choose and some are thrust upon you. Either way, it takes some time to process what is happening. And some circumstances take longer than others.
But, regardless of how it happens or how long it takes, change is inevitable. You could choose to embrace it and make it easier because when you begin to welcome change, your perspective shifts. Your understanding grows of how the experience flexes your mind and your muscles. You get stronger.
You build resilience to the effects of change. In other words, change doesn’t turn your world upside down anymore. You learn to go with the flow.
The experience of change over time gives you tools to use when life becomes harder again. You get to open your treasure chest, take out a tool, and use the life strategies and lessons you learned the last time to make the next change easier.
So, how can you turn things around and learn to embrace change? What if you welcomed it? And, what might be the benefits of experiencing change rather than resisting it?
10 Ways Change Makes You Stronger
Shifts Perspective
If you let it, when life becomes harder it can help you look at things differently—from a new vantage point. You might see change as an obstacle you need to overcome or a mountain you need to climb. When you successfully jump over the obstacle or make your way up that mountain, you can look back and see how far you’ve come. The lessons you learned along the way become tools in your treasure chest for the next time. Consequently, your perspective shifts.
Creates Growth
With each lesson learned, you adapt new life strategies to help you move forward. As you implement these new ideas and test them out, you learn more about what works for you, and what doesn’t. Then you get to integrate into your life the ones that work, so you can face new challenges with more ease and grace. You expand and grow, as a result. Once you start down this road of learning, adapting, implementing and integrating, it’s hard to stop. It becomes your habit. The growth continues.
Turns a Page
When life changes, especially due to major life events like loss of a loved one, breakups or career upheavals, it can cause you to see finality in the change. You may think of it as the end of you. In fact, it is just the end of a chapter in your life. Whenever one thing ends, there is an opportunity for another to begin, if you are willing to see new possibilities. You can choose to turn the page and start a new chapter from a place of curiosity and wonder.
Opens Doors
As you turn pages in your book when life changes, opportunities will be waiting for you. Just when you thought you were stuck in a rut, someone stretches their hand toward you and offers to pull you out. At the exact time you feel overwhelmed by circumstances, something unexpected happens to ease your discomfort. When a window closes, watch for the door left ajar, because it is an invitation to be brave and see what’s on the other side.
Adaptability Rises
The more your curiosity is peaked, the more options you can explore. With more options to test, you get to learn more about what is right for you and what feels odd—not in alignment. Through this process, you become more adaptable to change because you are seeking it every time you discover something new that you want to change in yourself. It stands to reason then, whenever a change is thrust upon you that you don’t want or don’t expect, you will know from experience how to adapt and make the experience easier for yourself. Change makes you stronger.
Resilience Muscle Flexes
Just as flexing the muscles in your body makes you stronger, using your resilience “muscle” can help when life changes and becomes harder. The more experience you have with change, the more resilient you become and the faster you come through it. You don’t have to like it; however, since we know it’s one of those inevitable occurrences in life, it’s best not to resist it. Face it with resilience and learn from the experience. Flex your muscle and start the bounce-back. You can move beyond coping and surviving through change. You can choose to thrive. Building resilience is one of the most important character traits to have when change knocks at your door.
You Become Inspired
Watch what happens when life changes, you choose to embrace it, and change makes you stronger. At this point, you are seeing it with new eyes, feeling more adaptable and your resilience builds. With this comes inspiration. You are more open to new ideas and insights. You become more curious and braver, and more than this, you become inspired to move forward through change. You have indeed changed yourself.
Grounded in Your Values
As you learn more about yourself through this process of change and your new approach to facing it, important foundational considerations are likely to bubble up. These include your core values. Whenever you bob and weave through changes, you will need some guiding principles to help you make decisions. Centering on your core values and using them as your checkpoint before making chooses will keep you strong and in integrity with your values. Decisions that honor your values are rarely bad ones.
Vision Becomes Clear
When all is said and done, change is a catalyst for new beginnings. With a new beginning, you need a vision of what you want it to be. As you get stronger and more resilient to change, the brain fog that comes with major events can clear faster. Consequently, you become more adept at navigating the change. With a clearer head and an increasingly better sense of the path you want to take, your vision of what is possible comes into focus.
Motivation Turns into Momentum
When life changes and becomes harder, adaptable people find ways to move through the challenge. It may not be welcomed, it may in fact be devastating, yet the most resilient among us find a way to bounce back in due time. Are you one of those people? Do you wish you were? Whenever you face change and challenge from a position of flexibility, adaptability, and resilience, you can’t help but move forward. That act of moving comes from the motivation of not wanting to stay mired in the experience of change, but to learn from it. From that motivation to move forward, you develop momentum. Once that starts, you are on your way to a better place.
Change is rarely comfortable, especially when it is unexpected. It can knock you upside down and right off your foundation. At this point, you get to make a choice about how you will stare it down. Will you become adaptable? Are your resilience muscles in good shape? Can you use the experience to make you stronger? It may seem like you must do this all by yourself but, the fact is, you don’t. Who do you admire and trust to grab your hand and pull you up? Going through change is much easier when you share the burden and learn from others who have been there before.
Step onto Your Bridge
When life-changing moments flip your world upside down, I create a bridge so you can turn chaos into calm. You build resilience and learn to live a life guided by your own values and vision. Are you ready to take the first step onto your bridge? Do you want to explore how change can impact you? Would you like to learn how to move through it with more dignity and grace? I’m here to help. Get my free ebook From Darkness to Light: Learning to Adapt to Change and Move Through Transition.