Change is constant; you can either embrace it and move forward or resist it and get run over.

Do you fear change? A little uncertain?

The usual conversation in our head goes something like this:

“Well maybe it would be good, but what if it doesn’t work out. Things aren’t going that well, but at least I know what to expect. I’ve been doing, thinking, and acting this way for so long, I don’t know how to be different. People won’t like me if I change. It’s not worth the hassle. I’m not sure I can change anyway.”

We need to recognize that’s only our fear talking. We have been conditioned from birth to conform. We are creatures of habit. We live what we learn. We are mistrustful of new ideas. New ways of doing things seem uncomfortable.

Question that thinking.

It’s a knee jerk response. Look at the broader reality of history. The only way we grow both as individuals and as a society is through change. All of our pioneering inventions that improved our lives, our innovative solutions that solved major world problems, involved massive change. Changes in our technology, changes in our practices, and most of all changes in our mindset.

We would have no iPad, no apps; we might not even have the internet. Horror! 

We’d still be sending messages via telegraph instead mobile phones that allow us to call and text from almost anywhere instantaneously.

We’d still have to get up to turn the channel on the television, instead of using a remote that can operate all of our electronics in one handy little device (OK, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.) Worse yet, we might not even have televisions.

We’d still be using leeches instead of antibiotics. And dying from common viruses with no childhood immunizations.

We’d still be using iceboxes, waiting weeks for our mail to be delivered via Pony, pumping our water at the well. I won’t even mention going out back in the middle of the night. (OK, I mentioned it.) Shutter the thought!

Good grief, we might still think the world was flat and never get to visit Hawaii or Tahiti or Bali (or wherever we’d like to go.)

You get the idea. We cannot grow, advance, improve our lives, and change the world or our individual circumstances, without being willing to change. We would be confined to the life that we were born into, repeating the same behaviors over and over again, no hope for advancement, and a better life.

What do we have to fear? Success. Happiness. New friends and colleagues. Expanding our horizons. Learning new skills.

Those things don’t sound so bad, do they?

What do we have to lose? The comfort of routine. The familiar. The approval of those around us who are fearful of change. Pride if we make a mistake.

Those things don’t actually serve us, do they? Well maybe the pride, but usually it’s misplaced anyway…

Change. Be bold. Be daring. Be hopeful. Be creative. Be alive.

The ball is in your court.

It’s your turn. What do you think?