Wisdom Wednesday #3 - Navigating Change

Hello all! Good evening, and welcome back to Wisdom Wednesday! This week, I would like to discuss the inevitability of change and how to approach this fact with positivity.

Change is a natural part of life, and it is needed to grow as individuals and to live new experiences. It happens to everybody. Whether it be something as minor as a new hairstyle or something life-altering such as moving to another state, we all have faced change at one point or another. An association with this idea is that it is scary and that one will not know how to deal with change. Getting caught up in this mindset will lead to fear and resistance, only making the process harder. If there is anything you take from reading this newsletter, please let it be embracing life shifts.

Though embracing is a great idea, it is important to realize that fearing change is completely normal too. Fear is what makes us human and grows us as individuals. The key is learning to control that fear, not letting the fear control you. When we resist change, we fail to let ourselves grow, learn, and discover who we truly are. This mindset shift allows us to neglect change as a threat, but rather treat it as a challenge and an opportunity for improvement. We all have the potential to become better and greater people, but this can only happen if we stray away from stagnation.

I believe several people fear this inevitability because of the uncertainty that comes with it. I fell victim to this mindset. Upon middle school graduation, I was completely lost. Come autumn, I would attend a high school with unfamiliar faces from all over the county with wildly different interests than mine. This fact absolutely terrified me. A whole new environment meant that I would need to start from scratch. I needed to find new friends, adjust to new buildings, build great relationships with teachers, and impact my community. I was battling all of this while being unconfident in myself. What if the people at my new school were nothing like me? What if this school was nothing like I had imagined? All of these “what if” questions piled on top of each other, and made me even more nervous about the change in environment and my life.

I was definitely faced with several challenges because of such a drastic change. Though this adjustment was difficult, I grew as a person. I became more resilient, social, and innovative. When I found my groove in the middle of freshman year, I started to come out of my comfort zone slowly but surely. I was positively affected by the hardships a new environment presented me with. But, I could not do this without several pieces of advice from peers and self-reflection questions. This information I gathered during my tenure is so useful, and I would like to share it with you all.

Firstly, here are some tips I picked up that helped me tremendously:

1. Seek support and utilize those around you. This key point made a huge difference for me. Being an awkward teenager with no clue in the world, I had no real knowledge of how to sustain myself properly. One day, I had the epiphany that I was surrounded by so many supportive, genuine, wise individuals who were all willing to help me. I started reaching out to others more often, and it helped me embrace change.

2. Adapt your mindset. This was something I struggled with heavily during freshman year. As outrageous as it sounds, I threw myself into this mentality that everyone was out to get me and there was no way I could possibly succeed. I convinced myself that every frustration or setback was a personal attack, only making my situation worse. I realize now that this mindset held me back more than any external obstacle ever could. I eventually shifted my perspective to growing on mistakes, seeking support, and realizing mistakes are experiences to learn from; I saw real progress as a result of this.

I asked myself these fundamental self-reflection questions that allowed me to navigate change with a more constructive attitude:

1. What could I learn from this change?

2. What resources available would help guide me through this change most effectively?

3. How could I use this change to better myself as a person?

4. Why am I scared of this change?

5. How could this change affect me positively or negatively?

Having these criteria for self-reflection allowed me to be confident, expect, and embrace the inevitable change. Clarifying the imminent situation always made me feel better about myself. Though I never answered these questions explicitly, having this reminder in brain allowed me to attack challenges methodically. I stayed grounded and knew I had the tools to navigate whatever came my way. This confidence made it easier to accept mistakes as part of the process and view change as an opportunity for growth rather than something to fear.

Finally, I would like to mention that discomfort is needed for change. Stepping out of our comfort zones may make us uncomfortable, but it also allows us to grow. At first, it will be a little discouraging to make us feel uneasy in our environment. Eventually, though, this discomfort will become the new normal. As we face changes more frequently, we will become better equipped to handle them in the future.

A great simile I found was that change is like going to the gym. When you work out, the targeted muscles become sore because you push them to do something. However, with consistent effort and dedication, those muscle groups will become stronger, and the old exercises will become more manageable. You will also be able to work with higher weights and new exercises. The same is true for navigating life’s changes.

I hope this newsletter provides you with helpful advice on navigating life’s inevitable changes. Though it may seem tough at first, embracing hardships and managing fear allows us to grow. Thank you for reading, and I look forward to next week’s edition. Peace and love.

- Jaime Paladi, Public Relations
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