Is The Fear of Change Holding You Back?

"Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and

discomforts." - Arnold Bennett

One of the biggest issues which have been cropping up consistently with my clients lately is that of accepting and even embracing change. Even when they know that the converting over to a new way of doing things will eventually in the long run save them time and money to say nothing of alleviating stress in their lives, they continue to kick and scream every inch of the way.

I believe the first thing you need to do in order to embrace change gracefully is to find out why you're experiencing such an adverse reaction to this new request. For example, are you afraid of failure? Having a hard time trusting yourself to go through with the process, as in "Why bother? Nothing ever changes." These conditions are all due to issues of low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, and resignation which you'll need to work on at some point, but let's take a look at the bigger picture here of why you're fighting this change so hard.

At what point in your life did you become so entrenched in the 'But that's the way we've always done it' dumpster? I know there are a lot of people who subscribe to the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" choir, but that saying has one major flaw in it: what IF it can be improved by making a few changes? Should you just sit blindly by and do nothing because you're afraid of the work you'll need to do to modify something? No way!

Here's the thing about change. With change comes confusion, uncertainty, chaos, and not having all the answers. And not having all the answers is the thing that really rocks our boat. Because when we have all the answers, we can deal with those changes and it feels safe. Ah, but herein lies the kicker....there's no room for growth there and you succumb to mediocrity and ultimately fade into the woodwork so to speak.

Change is the very thing that adds spice to our everyday life. Picture this: if you ate one kind of cereal every morning for 40 years, don't you think you'd be a little bit tired of eating it at around day 14,610? (By the way, that number includes an extra 10 days for Leap years.) I'm pretty sure you just nodded your head yes at that one, right?

Change is the determining factor between having a thriving and bountiful life and business, or one that is merely existing and taking up space on the planet. Yes, change is hard to adapt to, and yes, it's uncomfortable when you're going through it - most of the best things in life do cause us some twinges of pain - but you need to realize that the immediate discomfort will soon pass.

So, the next time you're faced with any type of change, ask yourself these two questions:

1. What will the end result look like once I embrace this change and reach the goalpost?

2. If I do this now, what added benefits will it bring to my overall life?

We're talking 'big picture' here folks. Think bigger - you just might like it!