CHANGE, IS IT REALLY THAT SCARY?

CHANGE, IS IT REALLY THAT SCARY?

I recently read a post from Pamela Slim’s Blog, How do you want to lead your life? I really enjoyed reading this because it brought about some self-analysis in my own life. Shocking I know! That I, of all people would do self-analysis.

Pamela posed a very good question. “How do you demonstrate leadership in your own life?” I think we all have different ideas about what leadership means and looks like in our lives. The premise is, how do you want to show leadership in your life, verses buying into other people’s definition of what leadership is or needs to be.

The question becomes, if we are going to demonstrate leadership in our lives, then we will need to make some changes. When we talk about change, many people have a knee-jerk reaction. They get all cold and clammy, distracted and nervous. Some people just don’t like change. Why? Here are some of the reasons I’ve heard. It’s too scary or risky. It will require too much. It will upset my whole life. What if we looked at change this way. You get to choose how big or how little you want the change to be. You get to decide if it’s something you really want. You get to choose if it’s the right time and if it’s pertinent to your growth at this point in your life. Changes don’t have to be extreme. We don’t have to buy into an “all or nothing” mentality. Changes can start in our thinking, and be very small steps, which may naturally move into larger steps.

For instance, I might want to make changes, (thus demonstrating leadership in my life), by:

Making a decision about something that has been on the back burner for a while.

Doing things that give me energy.

Implementing a creative schedule so I can create space in my life to do the things I’ve wanted to do.

Giving myself permission to take a 30-minute break each day.

Deciding if I want to live the rest of my life being “superwoman/man.” (Trying to please everyone and do everything and not putting myself of the list.)

Choosing if I want to stay in a career/work environment where I am constantly undervalued, unappreciated or have to compromise my values.

Granted some of these examples may require taking a risk, and may bring with them fearful thoughts and feelings. I love this quote about fear by Susan Jeffers. “We can not escape fear. We can only transform it into a companion that accompanies us on all our exciting adventures…Take a risk a day, one small or bold stroke that will make you feel great once you have done it.” If none of us ever made changes in our lives, where would our world be?

I believe this is what leadership in our own lives is all about. And believe me, I’m speaking to myself here as well. If we aren’t willing to make changes, and take a few risks, then everything stays the same and can become stagnant. Is that how we want to demonstrate leadership in our lives/careers?

How about you? What are your concerns about change? What changes do you want to make in order to demonstrate leadership in your life/career? Who does it require you to be in order to make these changes? Thanks in advance for your comments. I look forward to hearing from you!

Pam Day