We went to a friend’s house a few nights ago to celebrate the fact that he was retiring the next day. Like a lot of us, he probably thought he would work until one day he’d just decide to retire — on his own schedule and his own terms.
But then that inevitable thing got to him — change!
Change. That’s something that we all have to deal with on a continuing basis — nothing in life stays the same. But usually somewhere along the line a change that we can’t, or don’t want, to deal with comes along. Most of the people that I know, including myself, retired because of a change that was unacceptable, for whatever reason, to them.
Most people don’t like change unless they’re uncomfortable with the present situation and then they demand it. Knowing that change is part of life doesn’t make learning how to deal with it any easier or more natural. Change can be hard — especially since we tend to be creatures of habit. Some habits, or ruts, can be comfortable. That’s not a bad thing, but sometimes it’s necessary for things to change.
Why should you deal with change? The answer is — because it’s coming. Change is always coming. Change almost always triggers something called “stress.” Some people handle it better than others, but usually most of the stress in anyone’s life is somehow related to change.
All during my working career, I dealt with change in the work environment, and I think over that time I heard every known reason not to change — like — it’s too ambitious, it’s impossible, we don’t have the equipment, it’s too expensive, I don’t have the authority, that’s someone else’s responsibility, it will take too long, we’ve always done it this way, it’s too complicated, it’s too political, it’s contrary to policy, it can’t be done, it needs more thought, we tried that before, I’m all for it but…., it’s too visionary, they don’t really want to change. Anyhow, you get the idea.
I’ve heard it said that people don’t resist change, they resist being changed. Maybe that’s true, but like it or not, change is here to stay. As you get older, you’ll learn to accept it or embrace it and realize that if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got….
— 30 —