Summer of Change
Change!!!!!!! If there is one thing we humans don't like, it is change. Summer is full of it. It's the one season when the most change happens in our lives statistically. High School kids head off to college. College students head into the "real" world. More people get married and have kids in the summer than any other time of the year. More people move and start new jobs in the summer than any other time of the year. Summer is all about change and change is scary.
We humans like things just the way we like them. So change is not usually welcome, even when we aren't in the best situations. That is why so many of us do the same exact thing day after day, month after month, year after year, and complain the entire time that nothing ever "changes". We are a HOT MESS the lot of us. Yet no other species on earth is better at adapting to change than us (well, maybe roaches, but we'll keep roaches out of it). No other species is better equipped to turn change into our new reality and inevitably to our norm. Which is why it is so important, even in the face of our natural hesitance to embrace change when it comes.
Change comes in many ways and it requires us to step out of our comfort zone. It forces us to see things differently and to do things differently. Yet the true reality of our lives is our lives are in constant change. It is the nature of things to change.
For me a personal example of "change" and my discomfort with it is my son who is headed off to college at the end of the summer. It is scaring the poop out of me. I don't know if he is ready to strike out on his own. I keep thinking of all the reasons why he is "not" ready. All the reasons why he is still a little boy. It is easier for me to deal with the idea of my son being a little kid than a young man on the cusp of adulthood.
Yet if I just step back for a moment I recognize I've raised him right, or at least as "right" as I knew how. I've taught him right from wrong, to treat all people as he would want to be treated, to pay attention to his surroundings, to stand up for the right things, protect those who can't protect themselves and to do the very best he can at everything he does. I've shown him love and respect and I guess that is really all a father can teach a son. At some point you have to accept your children are becoming adults and while I'd rather it not be now for my own selfish reasons, time waits for no one.
You may not have a child moving out. Instead you may have a baby due or a big wedding coming up. You may be at the end of one career terrified of starting a new one. You may simply be on the verge of taking your physical health more seriously and planning on making big changes to your life to accomodate your goals. It is ALL scary, yet it is all attainable and so much of it will be for much better things in the future.
So when you are faced with change this summer and you almost certainly will be, take a deep breath, figure out how this is going to affect you, figure out how you can best use the change to your advantage, and then take one step forward into it; your other foot will surely follow. Attitude makes all the difference and sometimes you have to jump feet forward into the unknown because that is what "LIVING" is all about.
Here's to wishing you great success as change happens to you this summer. I believe in you always, you just have to believe in yourself.
We humans like things just the way we like them. So change is not usually welcome, even when we aren't in the best situations. That is why so many of us do the same exact thing day after day, month after month, year after year, and complain the entire time that nothing ever "changes". We are a HOT MESS the lot of us. Yet no other species on earth is better at adapting to change than us (well, maybe roaches, but we'll keep roaches out of it). No other species is better equipped to turn change into our new reality and inevitably to our norm. Which is why it is so important, even in the face of our natural hesitance to embrace change when it comes.
Change comes in many ways and it requires us to step out of our comfort zone. It forces us to see things differently and to do things differently. Yet the true reality of our lives is our lives are in constant change. It is the nature of things to change.
For me a personal example of "change" and my discomfort with it is my son who is headed off to college at the end of the summer. It is scaring the poop out of me. I don't know if he is ready to strike out on his own. I keep thinking of all the reasons why he is "not" ready. All the reasons why he is still a little boy. It is easier for me to deal with the idea of my son being a little kid than a young man on the cusp of adulthood.
Yet if I just step back for a moment I recognize I've raised him right, or at least as "right" as I knew how. I've taught him right from wrong, to treat all people as he would want to be treated, to pay attention to his surroundings, to stand up for the right things, protect those who can't protect themselves and to do the very best he can at everything he does. I've shown him love and respect and I guess that is really all a father can teach a son. At some point you have to accept your children are becoming adults and while I'd rather it not be now for my own selfish reasons, time waits for no one.
You may not have a child moving out. Instead you may have a baby due or a big wedding coming up. You may be at the end of one career terrified of starting a new one. You may simply be on the verge of taking your physical health more seriously and planning on making big changes to your life to accomodate your goals. It is ALL scary, yet it is all attainable and so much of it will be for much better things in the future.
So when you are faced with change this summer and you almost certainly will be, take a deep breath, figure out how this is going to affect you, figure out how you can best use the change to your advantage, and then take one step forward into it; your other foot will surely follow. Attitude makes all the difference and sometimes you have to jump feet forward into the unknown because that is what "LIVING" is all about.
Here's to wishing you great success as change happens to you this summer. I believe in you always, you just have to believe in yourself.
AMEN - change is something we fear, but so needed. God bless you, Jose & familia!
ReplyDeleteJose- I've been through it three times. When kids fly the nest, it is such an emotional time! Hang in there. Take it a day at a time. Sometimes an hour at a time!!! I know that this is one of those scary transitions- just like when they first went to kindergarten or got their drivers license. You'll make it. Take care and just talk to your son and be honest with him!
ReplyDeleteTake care. Thinking of all of you and keeping you in prayers.