Embracing Change

Over the past year, and particularly over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to make some necessary and beneficial changes in my life. There is a tendency, as people get older, to resist change and settle for the status quo because it feels safe and comfortable. I have decided to be on guard against that tendency, which I believe hastens the aging process. How quickly we age is often very dependent on how quickly we WANT to age. In other words, the speed at which we age, to a great degree, is voluntary.

Philip Crosby, in his book, Reflections on Quality, says, "Change should be a friend. It should happen by plan, not by accident". Too many times I have been slow to make changes that I knew would greatly benefit me, then found myself having the changes made for me in a way that I would not have chosen. Relationships, for example. Someone else's opinion of me does not validate me or determine my value as a person. It does not matter who the opinion belongs to. I have had a few self-appointed critics try to bully and control me when their own lives were far from shining examples. Not anymore. Sometimes relationships can seem good on the surface and be eating away at you on the inside. I have purged myself of those relationships. I question motive like I never have before. I know how to recognize a spin. Maybe I have become somewhat of a cynic. Maybe it's because I was forced into it.

I am making a change which is a bittersweet one, though. I am leaving my job to go to another hospital and a different area of nursing. I love the people I work with, but the stress level was more than I could handle anymore. We have worked together as a team for many years, and I will miss them, but I know that this change is the right one, and it will create many far-reaching possibilities for my future.

If you are dissatisfied with where you are because you have suggested changes that were not heeded, or if no matter how hard you try, you feel like you don't fit in, or if you are overwhelmed by stress, make a change. If those around you want to struggle or stagnate, let them. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, said, "Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do".

I purpose to be aware of how to change my present in order to prevent my past from holding back my future.