Embrace the Changes in Your Life: 5 Ways to Recognize that a Shift Is Happening
Changes happen in life – for all of us. There’s no getting around that.
Growing up, you may have been taught to minimize any signs that something was not working, encouraged to avoid making waves, or told to keep on keeping on. As a result, you now do your best to ignore the signs that it’s time to make a change.
Unfortunately, this approach to change puts you at a disadvantage because all of these strategies end up making it harder for you to create changes in your life.
The one element that has the most impact on how you experience transitions is the point when you acknowledge that something in your life needs to change. The sooner you acknowledge that something needs to shift, the easier it will be to navigate that transition with grace and confidence.
At what point do you realize that there’s a change brewing in your life or career? Are you more likely to:
- Notice the small clues that something is changing. If you are aware of the circumstances unfolding in your life, you can often pick up on small signs that something isn’t working the way you’d like. It could be as small as something falling out of a cupboard every time you open it, or something as meaningful as a series of awkward conversations with a loved one. Rather than pushing aside that signal that something isn’t working well, take note of the situation and ask yourself what might make this situation feel better. By being responsive to the clues in your life, you have the flexibility to create more flow and ease as you navigate the situation.
- Ignore that a change is happening. To avoid rocking the boat in your family or your workplace, you may have trained yourself to keep your head down and disregard signs of an issue. Although this habit may feel less risky in the moment, signs of trouble will likely start stacking up and escalating over time.
- Work harder to make the problem go away. When you realize that signs of distress are getting more and more difficult to ignore, you look for ways to put in more effort in hopes of turning the situation around. You may listen to your partner more intently, you may invest more time in fixing what’s not working, or you may double down to be more productive. Although this may help in the short run, if a change is truly in motion, these extra efforts to improve the situation may not have the anticipated long-term effect.
- Settle for what is happening right now. Sometimes it is tempting to accept your circumstances just as they are, without trying to initiate any changes. Certainly, there’s a comfort in this choice because you know the issues, you know the players, and you are familiar with costs and benefits of your situation. Sure, you may dream of another life, but you aren’t quite ready to let go of what you know to create the life you desire. Periodically, you may feel an ache of longing rise up within when you start to wonder if your current reality is all there is in life.
- Wait until the situation is so extreme you must act. If you hang on to the present for too long, the issues you face will continue to escalate. At this point, the options you have to choose from are likely to be limited, costly, and hard to face. If you wait even longer, you won’t have any choices left; you’ll be forced to make a move whether you want to or not.
The more entrenched your situation becomes, the more time and effort it will take to recognize and address the changes you are facing. Counter to our culture’s typical approach to change, the sooner you acknowledge that something is changing in your life, the more expansive options you have, the more time you have to make responsive decisions that feel right to you, and the easier it will be to create authentic outcomes for yourself and those around you.
Carol McClelland Fields, PhD, an award-winning author and Board Certified Coach, provides inspiration and practical support for those who are in the midst of transition. Embrace a new relationship with change. Carol works with people globally, including professionals who work with clients in transition, as an emerging or seasoned coach, therapist, or other Change Catalyst. Download Carol's eBook, Riding the Waves of Change: Growing, Healing, and Evolving Through Times of Deep Uncertainty at www.CarolMcClellandFields.com.
