Why is it that everything has to change? Why does change usually involve something that makes us uncomfortable? Over the course of our lives, we must accept that change is constant. Instead of viewing it as a negative thing, we must begin to look at change as a transition—a transition from one situation to another, from one chapter of life to another, from one level to another.
We often expect transition to be something bad, but change and transition have a purpose in our lives. Change always involves the unknown. It may feel uncomfortable, but discomfort is where growth comes from.
If our ultimate goal in life is growth, the discomfort we feel from change is just part of the journey. We first begin to change at birth. Babies transition into crawling, then walking. They’ll fall a lot. Babies might stumble at first, but within weeks they’re running. At the same time, they are undergoing physical changes that take them from dependence on their parents for everything to needing and even craving independence.
Each of us has to juggle multiple changes from the beginning.
The old me hated change. How can something that brings such turmoil and pain and confusion now be something that empowers me to want to do more? I have had to deal with a lot of transitions on a daily basis. I’ve had to change or transition back and forth—and sometimes immediately—as I serve individuals every day. I had to learn that in order for me to help them I had to be comfortable with me. And if I encouraged them to step out and change, then I had to be ready to do the same.
I know the feelings that change brings. I’ve been met with the same resistance: I don’t want to fail. I don’t want to start over. I don’t want to move on, but I don’t want to become stagnant either. I don’t understand what the next step is.
But that unknown—about what comes next—is part of the beauty of transition. There’s beauty in change. There’s beauty in growth, and beauty in getting to the next level of life. Something feels so right about being able to look back and say, “I made it, I tolerated the change and I’m better for it.”
Sit back for a minute and think about the biggest change you had to endure. Maybe you were fired from a job you felt was your calling. Maybe you were floundering because you couldn’t find your purpose—and every time you got close, it was taken away. Maybe it was a relationship you hoped would end in marriage and children and a happily ever after, but it didn’t go as you planned. What do you do next? You can get up, dust yourself off, and try again, or you can remain stagnant.
Stagnation is dangerous. You can stay the same, but the world will continue to move on. If I stand in the same place for 10 years, my position may be the same. But everything around me will be different, the people around me will be different, and I, too, will
be different.
Today, I find myself not knowing exactly what my next step is going to be. I’m continuing to develop where I want to be and what it is going to take to get there. I’m realizing that people who have been in my life for years may not be ready to make that transition with me. Places I thought I belonged may need to be left behind.
So, for this edition of The Call, I ask you to prepare yourself for transition. I wish I could say that change is easy—that it doesn’t involve pain or regret—but you will feel all those emotions. Don’t lose sight of hope during this process. Change allows you to grow. Your journey may include hurt and hardship, but your resilience has brought you this far, and it’s preparing you to flourish.
