Dealing with Change

Change. Such a small word, yet so much reaction and emotion to it. Whether it is starting a new relationship, school or job, moving to somewhere completely new; even changing classes or lecturers, it will cause some emotional reaction within you.

As a person who is introverted and stubborn, I naturally don’t really like change that much. I usually keep it all in, pretend that everything’s ok, until I have a breakdown; sorry Elsa from “Frozen”, I do eventually break the don’t-let-it-show rule.  Sadly, your magic powers don’t arrive when it happens.

It’s hard; you have to get your head around a completely new system, and move on from the previous memories, feelings, and all the things you have grown accustomed to. It’s natural; us humans are creatures of habit. We like to go to the same coffee shop to order the same drink to take the same route to work, and so on, so forth.

So the next question is: how do we make it easier for ourselves? Change is like jumping from cliff to cliff; it’s a big gap - we can't change that - but there are ways to make our landing more comfortable. (Just a warning, I am talking metaphorically, and do not encourage cliff jumping of any kind. Keep safe and take care please, people).

One way is to prepare, plan and research; something I am very good at. For example, if you are changing schools, you can find out all the possible school choices and see what each school has to offer, whether it’s self-checkouts at your canteen (oh how I wish that was my school) or the various sports and cultural clubs. If you are moving to a new place, you can look into what is close to where you are staying, like a coffee shop or a gym. It’s about turning those nerves about moving into excitement about, for instance, trying an organic milkshake made entirely out of grass that is being served a 5 minute walk away from your doorstep. You never know, that could be a trend somewhere in the world.

Having experienced change in various circumstances, I understand how the worry and angst can literally consume you, taking you into a state where you cannot think about anything else.  When I was 14, my family made a big move to a different continent for my dad’s job. At first, I was really excited about a new place and all the things I could do when I got there. Although, there were little worries that were slowly getting bigger in my mind, until I got really upset the week before we left.  Despite all the research I did into my future school, it didn’t take away all the anxiety that I had.

Though when I got there, the angst that was there had eventually melted away, as I have made dear friends for life and memories I will treasure forever. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I met a friend once, who gave me a great piece of advice: “Fear of the unknown goes away when the subject becomes known”. It just shows how change can be for the best, even though it doesn’t seem like it at the time.

I think that if you have people you love around you, anything else doesn’t matter; we can live with a grumpy teacher or a long walk to work, but it’s harder to live without the people you care about the most.

Take care you lot, and I’m sending you love and support, through any changes you are going through.

Love,

Em x