Dealing With Change - Personal Development Article

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By:Garry Zancanaro

Change is inevitable, in fact it's the only thing that we can really be sure of in life. It often said that people hate change and will resist it as much as possible.

But do people really hate and resist change?

I certainly don't think this is always the case. People are always changing aspects of their lives voluntarily. They change their jobs, they change their partners, they redecorate their houses and change the furniture, they travel to other places, they change their hairstyles, their clothes, in fact, they change almost every aspect of their lives on a regular basis.

Change may result from a choice that we make for ourselves or it may be imposed upon us. Changes that we choose include most of the above examples, and things like getting married, moving house, moving to a new job, etc. Changes that are typically beyond our control include redundancy, illnesses, bereavement, changes to your job, office relocation etc.

It can be difficult enough adapting to changes that you make by choice. Last year, after happily living in central London for many years, I moved to rural Ireland and married my long term girlfriend. These were lifestyle changes I made through choice and they still required adjustment and adaptation.

What people definitely don't like and can have a lot of difficulty adapting to, are changes being forced on them that they have no control over. The generalisation that people hate change really relates to this type of change.

Some people respond to change they cannot control better than others. No two people respond the same to change, and some people will respond better to some types of change than they will to others.

There are various reactions most people have to change. Although this varies from person to person and depends on the circumstances, there are some common reactions to change.

A common first reaction is shock and denial that change is happening. We may just continue to think about the things as they were and deny any change is taking place.

We may then react irrationally and experience uncertainty, fear about the future, frustration, self doubt, anger, sadness, even depression. In time we often become more rational and start to think about the new situation and look for opportunities and possibilities.

It can take time, but usually we then accept the change and decide to make the most of the new situation.

The way we instinctively deal with change broadly falls into approaching change either positively or negatively.

Some people stubbornly resist change over which they have no control, refuse to accept the changes, or may even deny that change is taking place. They can be so deeply entrenched they refuse to let go of the old and accept the new. This further reduces adaptability and makes you more fragile and volatile. This inevitably increases stress and in some case can lead to illnesses, or in extreme cases, even to partial or serious mental or physical breakdown.

The easiest way to cope with external changes over which you have no control is to actually accept that you can do nothing about the change. Then you can look at into how what the change means to you, how to make the best of it and what opportunities or advantages the new situation offer. Then you can take action in line with the changes and this will allow you to be flexible in your approach and help you to adapt and cope with any new obstacles.

Change is now happening at a much greater pace than at any time in history and it's only going to get faster and faster. Considering employment alone, with very few exceptions, a job for life is a thing of the past. Changing jobs quite often is now the norm, and most people will even change careers several times during their working life.

Adapting to change effectively is now really an essential skill that we all need to work at in order to lead happier and more stress free lives.

Problems adapting to change are often caused not by the change itself, but by the way we view the change.

If we can adjust our viewpoint, the way we think about and see the change, it can have incredible results. We can become positive rather than negative and see the change as an exciting new adventure. It can make us look for and find new opportunities, and let us look positively to the future rather than wasting time and energy looking back to what is now past.

'When you are through changing, you are through.' ~Bruce Barton

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Article keywords: change, dealing with change, time management, self improvement, personal development, self growth

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Garry Zancanaro is founder of SelfImprovementDirectory.com visit to claim a FREE Think and Grow Rich, and creator of SuperSuccessLibrary.com a collection of the Best Success Resources