How To Cope With Change

Are You Wishing to Embrace a New Phase in Your Life?

Perhaps you’ve been thinking of getting a new job, starting a new relationship (or ending one), moving house – even starting a new lifestyle or health regime.

Change Can Be Scary!

If you’re scared and feel daunted at the thought of CHANGE, keep reading because I hope to have you feeling excited and MORE confident and comfortable with change!

These are the tips and tricks I’ve learned that have helped me not only cope with change but ENJOY it!

Our Inner Voice

I don’t know about you but when change is on the horizon, my inner voice starts working on overdrive and little feelings of doubt start to creep in, like:

“What if I’m making a mistake?”

“What if it was better before and now I can’t go back?”

When things are unknown they feel riskier to us, which is why we can be tempted to take what seems to be the ‘safer’ option and just avoid change altogether!

Could This Be Why We Resist Change?

I think that we tend to assume that the old and familiar way of doing things must be the best way. We like things that have been tried and tested, as this gives us comfort and reassurance.

This helps to explain why we can sometimes be resistant when it comes to change – we feel that we’re giving up something old and ‘good’ for something new and possibly ‘not good’.

Accept Nothing Lasts Forever – and that’s OK!

The best way to end the struggle is to embrace the fact that things change. Enjoy the good times while you can and remember that the ‘not so good times’ are JUST temporary.

Remind yourself of the amazing things in your life that have come from a change – this could be a great friend that came into your life or a new hobby that you discovered and now get so much joy from. Focusing on the positives that have come from past change will help you get excited for new adventures in the future!

Let Go of the Pain of the Past

Whether you are leaving behind a job, place or a relationship, make sure that when you go, you leave feeling grateful and peaceful.

It’s important to your mental well-being to work on letting go of any resentments, anger and heartache and instead RE-FOCUS on keeping hold of happy memories.

This isn’t always easy, but it’s important to really try!

Could This Way of Thinking Help You Too…

For me, I choose to view any negative stages of my life as an important learning experience, as this helps me to move forward with no regrets. Letting go of any toxicity from the past will make you feel ‘lighter’, and make any new challenges feel so much easier in time.

Stay in the ‘Now’

If we’re going through a tough time of change in our lives, we can often feel pain, anxiety, fear and sadness.

The reason we feel this way is often because our minds are focused on the past and the future. We might be feeling sad because of things that we’ll miss from the past, or wondering how things could have gone differently, and anxious and fearful about what might happen in the future.

What Works For Me

I find that by being mindful and focusing on the present and the moment and NOT the future during these difficult times helps me to stay calm and makes me feel much more confident about being able to manage the situation.

A quick and simple way to do this is to take deep breaths and really focus on your breathing. You may find it helpful to count to four on the inhale and seven on the exhale.

Know That Change Almost ALWAYS Leads to Good!

Now I know this might be a bit tricky to get your head around at first, but bear with me!

Usually, when we’re going through a period of big change, especially a difficult one, it can be hard to see the ‘good’ that might come from it.

Think of a past change that you found difficult to deal with at first, and remind yourself of all the positives that came out of it in the end. Did you make new friends, or learn something valuable that has helped you in your life since? Did it make you stronger, or more compassionate as a person?

Time Can Give us Great Perspective!

I’ve realised that when I look back at my life at times when I’ve gone through big changes, even the ones that I struggled with at the time, I’ve always taken something positive from them – granted, this doesn’t happen immediately BUT over time we can connect the dots in our life and see that all our experiences have helped form the people we are today!

A Final Thought…

The fact is, we can’t always control what changes in our lives, but we CAN control how we react to any change. By accepting the change, seeking out the positive, and focusing on the now, we can learn to embrace change and see it as an exciting opportunity.

Knowing that change almost always brings something positive will help you stay strong and optimistic when you’re facing a new challenge.

I hope these tips will help you to welcome change in your life, and make you feel happier as a result!

Thanks for being part of my Beauty and the Boutique Community!

Love,