“Changing to face the strange…” This song aptly describes a process that evokes many feelings in us around life transitions. When we encounter change, we encounter strangeness and face a whole host of emotions. Transition is an amazing journey. It’s that point between the familiar and the strange. We’re caught in a netherworld, neither here nor there, but somewhere in-between that feels so new and so uncomfortable that it might feel painful. It brings me back to my little child within who faced so much newness once upon a time. She may have had the safety of her mother’s skirt to hide behind. Or maybe she was thrust into that change so fast and furiously that the safe haven was whatever space she could create for herself. We learn to adapt in the face of change–such is our resiliency as humans.
We’re constantly transitioning through change, negotiating and navigating that unchartered territory of a life journey. We come out on the other side, wiser and hopefully better as we may realize how that change helped us to grow. I believe that there can be no personal growth without it.
How do you deal with change? Is it scary? Do you embrace it? Is it dependent upon whether that change is your choice?