Change is good

There comes a time for change in every person's life. May I quote The Byrds (who quote the Bible),

"To everything
Turn, turn, turn
There is a season
Turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven"

This time of change happens to be now for me--the change of graduating and the addition of new responsibilities, change of a new job, change of housing arrangements, and even change of hairstyle (maybe). All these changes, no matter how necessary, are stressful, hard to cope with, and invoke fear. But what is it about change that is so scary? Is it fear of the unknown? Is it fear of being rejected, fear of failure? Or is it just fear of change itself?

This may seem contradictory--that change, which is a good thing, invokes fear--but it is through change that people are made stronger and better. A weight lifter may struggle at first lifting additional weight, but that only helps build muscle. A runner may run out of strength as he heaves through that extra mile, but it builds endurance. So, how can one learn to accept change? First, act. Do something hard. Burst your comfort-zone bubble. Find out what is causing the fear. Is it the fear caused by the unknown or is it caused by something else? I like to make plans. If I don't have everything all planned out, then I feel stressed, unsure of my future, and afraid. As soon as I have planned how I am going to cope with every aspect of the change, I feel more secure and less afraid of the unknown. The unknown is only intimidating because of the fact that it is unknown. Once it has become familiar, the intimidation factor disappears.

If fear prevented everyone from accepting change, then society would be very unproductive. Fear would prevent the future president from taking his stand as the head of this country. It would prevent explorers from discovering that cool new place. It would prevent high school graduates from leaving home to start that new leg of life on their own. It would prevent children from taking that first ride without training wheels. This world is full of the unknown.

So the second step is to stick with it. If it is hard, then good. A quitter never won the Olympics or became the CEO of a company.

And third, learn from it. Part of progressing is looking back and seeing how far you have come. It is seeing what needs to be made better and it is setting goals for the future. You must learn what needs to be improved on or what changes need to be made, then repeat the process and act.

With all this said, I like making goals for myself and I like challenging myself. Sometimes I accomplish all of these goals, other times I don't. The important thing, however, is that I know what I want, that I plan it out, and that I try. Here are my future goals:

Goals for the summer:
1. Move to a different apartment. (this month)
2. Find a full-time job. (ASAP!)
3. Run a marathon. (this summer)

Goals to accomplish over the next few years:
1. Move to a different city or out of state. (this year or next)
2. Complete a Dietetic Internship and become a Registered Dietitian. (next year)
3. Develop a thesis and earn a Master's degree. (next year)
4. Volunteer with a service organization in Central or South America. (sometime)