Change Happens Constantly

You don’t like your work situation? Is your marriage unsatisfying? Is your life not where you want it to be? What is common about these three questions? You are. Each one of these questions can also have one answer which is “Change yourself.” By reflecting on all the things that are negative, you may be able to see patterns that are inside you or an element of your life that you would like to change.

I spent a lot of time in the last year reflecting on why I looked at everything in a negative light. I could see clearly where others needed help, without critically observing myself. I wish I could use the old cliché of “I looked in the mirror and didn’t like what I saw.” That was just not the case. Instead, I continued to go down a path of cynicism and distrust in the people I was surrounded with.

This all changed when I got my review at work. I was told that I was one of the hardest workers in the whole organization, but that because people saw I had a negative attitude, that it wasn’t conducive to the team. At that moment, I realized that I needed to change.

Believe change will give you a better life

To truly change yourself, it must be because you believe it is the right thing to do. For true change to occur, we first have to embrace the fact that we must approach change as something that will alter our lives. It will be uncomfortable for us. We will have to change the atrophied parts of ourselves and exercise them constantly.

Change is hard

We give up on change quite easily. Here are some encouragements for continuing to work on changes:

• Results come over time. Change rarely happens overnight. Set goals that give you quick wins along the journey.
• Embrace setbacks as a learning opportunity. Change is about doing something new that is different from the way you originally did it. We all fall from time to time as we learn to walk with the new changes. After a while, we start running and it becomes almost second nature.
• You won’t be the only one that notices the changes in your life.  People observe all the time.  They may look for failures in that change and if they find them and call it out, be encouraged by it.  This means that you are changing and people have noticed the difference you are trying to make.  Your friends will positively respond to your change of habits.

For me, I realized I have to work on my attitude of criticalness. I am doing this by “putting on the shoes of others and walking for a few miles” before I have an opinion. So far, I am realizing that my attitude has changed to be an advocate to help them get to their destination.

What is one way that you are changing?