Silence filled the conference room.
My co-workers nervously fidgeted in their seats. I proceeded to doodle
on my notepad as we waited for the meeting to begin.
“Guys, we’re moving,” said our boss.
Stunned looks rapidly appeared on
everyone’s faces. This was not the type of news they were wanting to
hear. I could tell that they were tuning out the rest of conversation.
Once the meeting concluded, the
grumbling began. They already had their minds made up that the move was
not going to work. While some of their concerns were valid points,
many were simply complaints about being forced to change.
To me, moving was not a big deal. At
one of my former jobs, we had to move our desks at least once a month to
“shake things up.” I have become quite the pro and packing and
unpacking my desk space.
This news really got me thinking about
change. Why are such a great number of people adverse to change? Let
me be the first to admit that I am not a fan of having to switch up my
daily routine. One reason is that I feel comfortable and
confident in the way that I currently run my processes. I love coming
in, sitting down and getting right to work. Knowing exactly how my day
will go is not boring, but comforting.
I also find that I tend to second
guess myself frequently whenever the administration decides to
run/process things differently. Typically, we run into issues and for
some reason, I tend to get blamed if things to not turn out as they
had planned. There also seems to be a greater chance for errors,
leading to more belittling by the staff causing my self-esteem to
plummet.
But, I have learned that change is not
always the scary monster that it appears to be. Case in point, at one
of my previous jobs, I ended up making a wonderful new friend after
being forced to move desks with another co-worker. If I would
not have moved, I never would have connected with this person or
developed such a strong friendship with him/her.
My 91 year old grandmother recently
moved into a nursing home. At first, she was terrified. She worried
that no one would like her and she would be all alone. But, she is
surrounded by people her own age, offered daily activities to
participate in and raves about how delicious the food is. Grandma is
now quite content with her new home.
Two years ago, my dad was diagnosed
with Type II Diabetes. He was completely devastated. Giving up cookies
and cakes seemed like a horrible punishment. However, he has since
gotten his numbers under control and is now healthier than
ever due to his new life style. And he has even developed a taste for
some of the gluten free foods.
Perhaps the biggest change that I have
ever undergone was getting married. I have never had a fear of
commitment, so marrying my best friend was very exciting. But, once we
returned from our honeymoon, the fairytale sparkle of our new
marriage began to fade a bit. Life began to throw more challenges at
us. Suddenly, that carefree life that we lived for a week in Disney
World turned into worrying about money and bills. We began to argue,
which I foolishly thought people in love didn’t
do. But over time, we began to learn what was really worth fighting
about and how to deal with life’s ups and downs. Five years later, our
love is stronger than ever…because we learned to accept change.
Some of the best moments of your life
can come out of change. We recently adopted a double dapple Dachshund
who was born without eyes and is completely deaf. This new addition
truly shook things up in our house! Learning how to live
with a differently abled animal was very tough at first. And Hope had
to learn the layout of a completely new house, which she managed to do
in a matter of days. This amazing little dog has changed our lives for
the better. She has made us more compassionate
and continues to inspire us every day with her determination and feisty
spirit.
