I don’t think I know anyone who likes change in their lives. Even positive change means that there is something new and we always seem to have a fear of the unknown. I know for me change means a very negative thing. Most of the change that occurred in my life was the result of something bad that happened so when I realize that change is on the horizon I go through a whole range of emotions. For students, change can be a very scary thing indeed.
How do you deal with change? Here’s what I do when I start feeling the fear of change, this would be great to share with students to help them go through a time of change:
- Pray and pray a lot. Ask God to guide you through the entire process. When I start getting scared and worried I just stop and remember that I’m not alone, God is right here with me.
- My personality is such that I need to process things. This might take me a couple of days. During this time however I have to be careful that I weigh out all the issues, both positive and negative and not just the negative, which is easy to do. I’m also a “list-maker”, I’ll sit down and list out everything I’m processing and try to figure out how to deal with the negative and accentuate the positive. It’s not always easy but it helps to write it all down.
- Talk to someone! We all need to have someone we can talk frankly with about our fears. Sometimes we just need someone to help point out positive things to change that we might not see on our own. I also ask that person to pray for me as well.
- Remember that sometimes God will close one door to open a greater door for us. It’s hard to realize it when we are dealing with the fear of change but we need to remember that God knows what is best for us.
- Think outside the box. Change means something is going to be different; this is a time to think about how things will be because of the change and how to make it better, not a time to remember the past, get stuck there and not move on.
- Change often equals growth and growth is good. God looks for ways to stretch and grow our faith and often that is done during times of change in our lives.
I’d love to hear your ways to dealing with change. You can comment here.
