Still On Change

Change comes in many forms. There are the big ones that can give me a lot of stress and anxiety and can take a lot of time...but mostly change happens without us realizing it until it becomes quite apparent. But whether big or small, change always brings out some kind of emotional reaction from people. I have been through enough life-changing experiences to know how hard it is to deal with change...there were times I did not even know that what I was feeling was due to some kind of change happening in my life! It's a good thing that I had adequate coping skills, a resilient nature and a great support system to face these events in life. Then in 2008, I bought this little book that talks about change...and subsequently wrote about it in one of my early posts although I did not really elaborate about how this book helped me better manage the continuing changes in my life. The book is "Who Moved My Cheese" by Dr. Spencer Johnson, and I want to share how the lessons has helped me have a better perspective of change.

It used to be that the word "change" was something I looked upon negatively and saw as unnecessary in my life.  I remember answering back a college classmate who was lecturing me on attitude change that "what you see, is what you get, take it or leave it" and of course, he left it...hahaha. He also told me that change is not bad...it only means that I am growing up.  Many years later, a more grown up me found that he was right.  Change is not bad...in fact it is necessary.  There are 3 lessons in the book that I have learned well... 

These are, The More Important Your Cheese Is To You, The More You Want To Hold Onto It.  When change happens, most of us feel like we are being moved out of our comfort zone into our terror zone. We tend to find all kinds of excuses to justify our inertia and refuse to move out of the box and so, If You Do Not Change, You Can Become Extinct. This happens to a lot of people who cannot adopt to the changes in their work and life. I have seen managers whose performance have suffered because of this.  Even after several years, they continue to put blame on the changes that happened as the reason why the organization is no longer competent and thus, without realizing it, they also made themselves dispensable and expendable.  People who understand and accept that change is part of life knows how To Smell The Cheese Often So You Know When It's Getting Old...and therefore they can better prepare for it.  

As the often said saying goes...Change is the only constant thing in life...Change is inevitable, so let's deal with it well!