When people undergo changes at work or in life, they often feel burdened and experience a lack of motivation because of the uncertainty of the situation. There is always the risk of failure when new things are attempted. Some may fear the loss of the “tried and true” ways of the past as they are faced with the need to drop old habits, cultivate new dispositions, and change the ways in which they engage with others.
In such situations, we may view change as bad or overwhelming, and find ourselves thinking, “I wish there was a clearer plan of the path I need to take. I want to know how things will work out. I was in such a comfortable situation before this change came. I wish things would just stay the way they were and I could stay the old ‘me’!”
To put these challenges in perspective, it is helpful to remember that the world is predicated on change.
Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) Founder Yogananda said,
“Everything is undergoing a process of change. These changes are either detrimental or beneficial to the object that changes….You must either go forward or backward. That is a great and inspiring truth, that in life you cannot remain stationary.”
If change is inevitable, then progress is the ability to adapt positively to change.
We need to realize that the process of change is founded on a certain amount of healthy uncertainty — in small endeavors just as much as the big ones. This means that we must develop a “transformation mindset,” one that embraces change on this human plane as a natural part of who we are, individually and collectively.
We can summon the confidence to deal constructively with change by reflecting on changes we have successfully adapted to in the past, and then telling ourselves: “Just look at where I am today versus where I was in the past. I have successfully navigated these forces of change on so many occasions, and I will adapt this time as well.”
Acknowledging this, we start to take it on faith that if we keep doing the right things, then the right things will keep happening to us. And with each step forward, because of our new attitude toward accepting a certain level of uncertainty and letting go of past attachments, where we formerly saw the risk of failure, we instead see the possibility of success. More and more we become comfortable and invested in the journey of transformation, whether it is on the personal, familial, organizational, social, national, or global level.