Things change. This is a fact of life. We are about to experience a change in the seasons -
spring is coming and with that brings new life. There are also many changes I’m experiencing in my own life. I became a grandmother recently and this is an amazing change! My husband retired from a career he had for 36 years and we are moving to a new town which means moving off the place we lived in for 22 years. Yes, there is a lot of change happening in my life right now. So how can I handle it well? How can you handle your changes and transition in life well?
One important thing to recognize is that as things are changing in life, we need to adapt ourselves to what is happening. Here are some ideas for how to do that.
The first thing that is important to remember is that change and transition create stress. No matter what the change or how good it is, there will be stress in adjusting to something new. And if the change is hurtful and unexpected, then the stress is even greater. In dealing with change, it’s important to recognize this. There will be a lot of emotions that come up with any big change, including depression, anxiety, and grief. Acknowledging these feelings and emotions will help us deal with them.
When we recognize that there will be stress, we can think about the things we can control in the situation and the things we cannot. This helps us gain a much-needed perspective on our life. Gaining perspective helps us see things in a more subjective way and avoid getting caught in the “all or nothing” thinking. It’s important to have balance in our thinking. Nothing is all bad or all good. Realizing what we can control boosts our emotional health and helps us understand the agency we have in our life. This means we are not totally at the mercy of what is happening to us, but we have some power and control over what happens and how we handle it.
Other things we can do to manage the stress that comes with change are to care for ourselves. This means fueling our bodies with good food, moving and getting exercise, and getting enough sleep. Other things like meditating, journaling, and doing yoga can also help us deal with stress.
Reaching out to people for support is important as well. During stressful times, we can ask for help and support from loving friends and family. Don’t wait for them to come to you - you can tell them what you need. This is another way of realizing the power you have to deal with stress. You can be proactive to get what you need.
Dealing with change healthily also involves valuing and loving yourself. One way to do this is to not compare yourself to others and how they may handle the same situation. Your journey is your journey and it’s ok if you do it differently than other people. There isn’t a right or wrong way to deal with a transition. Trust yourself and your way of handling life.
Another way to love and value yourself is to remember times when you overcame a difficult situation. It’s often easy to think of the times we’ve messed up. But we can also remember the times we got it right and things went well. This helps us see that things can turn out fine in this current situation too. Focusing on these things will build our self-worth and our ability to deal with stress.
And the last thing is thinking about what is good in the current situation. Be grateful for the positive things that are happening. Maybe it’s a friend that checks in on you to see how you are doing. Maybe you have a pet that brings you comfort or it might be other resources you have to get you through a tough time. These are things to be grateful for.
All the transitions and changes currently happening in my life are positive. But still my life is pretty crazy. I need to practice the concepts in this blog to cope. Hopefully this blog will help you manage whatever changes you are going through.
Take care,
Kathy