Have you ever found yourself in a position where change was inevitable? You may have felt forced, annoyed, frustrated, or even scared about how a part of your life was going to change. Perhaps you felt trapped due to the fact, change was going to happen whether you liked it or not. But what if you were to undergo a mindset shift that caused you to view change as opportunity?
What if you could easily strengthen your mindset for change and embrace change willingly?
Read on for New Game-Changing Resilience Strategies to Perceive Change as Opportunity vs Challenge and Struggle.
- Embrace the notion of change. John F. Kennedy once said, “The one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable.” Getting comfortable with the notion, change is going to happen, prepares you mentally and emotionally to enter a change with less stress. Change is constant and recognizing this fact early on will make life easier for you.
- Perceive change as progress. Whether you believe it or not, when something changes, it’s progressing toward something else, in many cases something better. The problem is, often our initial perception of change is decline, decrease, diminishment, failure, stagnation, or stoppage. Viewed through the proper lens, change can guide you towards higher levels of awareness, new levels of understanding, and greater possibilities of success. You may have heard the phrase, “perception is everything”. When change occurs, your perception could be the difference between remaining stagnant or progressing forward.
- Recognize the “newness” that change introduces. Change introduces unknown factors that, at times, can throw us off our game and discombobulate us. This doesn’t automatically mean unknown factors are a bad thing. Recognizing the fact that there are things we don’t know coming at us all the time, provides comfort in the knowledge that there’s always something new and different around the corner… And it’s neither bad nor good, just new. Shifting your focus from the uncertainty of the unknown to the notion that change involves “newness”—new things, people, places, and ideas—with at least some of it bringing excitement and interest, creates the opportunity for you to feel better about it.
- Believe that change can be transformative. Many changes have aspects that open up or expand your life in ways you hadn’t imagined before. You could be exposed to better products, knowledge, skills, networks, friendships, or business opportunities as a result of the change. Your experience with change, at work or home—wherever the change occurs—can transform your life for the better. Here’s an interesting video on transformation here: “Transformation vs. Change, What’s The Difference?”
- Recognize and explore the array of options that often accompanies change. Along with change often come more options. A whole new world of possibility opens up, in a sense. When change happens, it puts you in a position to take advantage of new choices. New choices, at a minimum, are something to be grateful for.
- Perceive change as, “the spice of life.” There’s an old saying based on something the poet, William Cowper, wrote that states, “Variety is the spice of life.” Applying that attitude to how you perceive change, opens up a completely different approach to it.
- Remind yourself that you can adjust to change. I always remind clients that the proof they can progress forward lies in the path they’ve already charted. The fact is, you’ve probably experienced hundreds of changes so far over your lifetime… And you’ve adjusted to them. You’ve worked things out. There resides proof that you have the capacity to adapt, improvise, and overcome. Remind yourself of moments you adapted and adjusted to change, reassuring yourself you’ll be able to adjust to more changes in the future.
Shifting how you regard changes could cause you to feel more comfortable with them. Embracing change, perceiving change as progress, and recognizing the newness of change will help you be more resilient when change occurs.
If you can see change as transformative, recognize that it creates more choices for you, perceive it as “the spice of life,” and remind yourself that you can adjust to anything that happens, you’ll approach change with a mindset to view change as an opportunity.
Resilience Trainer,
Rodney Flowers