Benefits of Change

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

– George Bernard Shaw

While change can be a frightening and overwhelming thing at times, it is also an unbelievably beneficial.

Sometimes we tend to take change for granted and even scorn it. We often wish things could go back to the way they were when an unwelcome change enters our lives.

Yet, how many times have you wished for a change in your life? Many people say how they’re “looking for a change” or say, “If a change doesn’t happen soon, I don’t know what I’ll do.” I know I’ve said these things countless times.

It seems in our minds change is sort of a yin-yang: we love it for providing the new, positive things that happen in our life and hate it when provides us with the new and negative.

Change is constant – again, as was stated by philosopher Heraclitus. Yes, it will give us bad and it will give us good, but wouldn’t it be better to look at the glass half full?

In her article, author Ani Chibukhchyan, writes about the benefits of change and how some of the changes for the worst can still be used to strengthen ourselves. As she puts it, and I’m sure this isn’t the first time someone you’ve heard it put this way: life isn’t a fairytale and bad things happen. It is how we deal with these negative occurrences that define us – that strengthen us to better deal with the future and the inevitability of the next change.

Another point Chibukhchyan hits on is the understanding of how monotony and routine can affect our happiness. While we may clamor for the need for things to stay just as they are, the truth of the matter is we’d all be bored out of our minds if nothing changed!

An extreme is to imagine everything being the same, from the exactness of when we wake up in the morning to the same dinner we’d have on a specified night of the week. A more moderate imagination probably coincides more with what we mean when we don’t wish things to change: perhaps we don’t wish our friendships to alter with the people we went to college with, we don’t want to be given any more responsibility at work, or we don’t want our children to stop crying for us when they get hurt.

Life won’t allow us to continue acting as recklessly as we did in college without leaving us in a place in life that leaves much to be desired – had we not changed our college behavior, we’d probably be wishing for a different kind of change right now; more responsibility means the ability to help others better. You are given more responsibility not as a punishment, but as a show of trust. You’re seen as a more valuable asset and perhaps you’ll feel more like one too. Finally, while it is wonderful to feel depended on by your loving little boy or girl, it is also its own type of reward to see your little one grow and form into a fully-functioning adult.

The next time you find yourself worrying about a change that you know is coming to your life, put a positive spin on it. Find the silver lining and you’ll find yourself happier and more fulfilled.