Change

I've got mixed emotions about change. Not the silver and copper kind that weighs down your pants pocket but can actually amount to something if you're willing to spend some time to sort through it but life change. Actually, you know, perhaps that's not that bad an analogy.

Big life change has the ability to weigh a person down but, if you're willing, can certainly be used for something good.

I feel like I've had a lot of change in my life in the last year or so. It's been good (such a nondescript word, isn't it!?), rewarding, formative and exciting but challenging, exhausting and draining.

A few things I've learned about change:

1. It's better with the support of community. Much like anything else in life, I don't think we're meant to tackle major life change alone.

2. There is an aspect of change that always forces us to encounter the unknown.

3. Encountering the unknown reminds us that there are things we're not in control of. For some of us, that's a completely freeing thought. For others, completely frightening.

4. It requires trust. Trust that when I'm not in control, God is. Trust that it's okay for me not to be in control. Trust that there are others around me who will support me and pick up the pieces if and when I can't.

5. External change forces internal change.

6. Internal change forces external change.

7. We learn things through major change that we couldn't have learned any other way.

8. Change doesn't always equal suffering or challenge but it does always equal a move out of your comfort zone which equals being stretched.

9. Change can be completely exhilarating when walked with a sense of anticipation.

10. Change is easier to approach with anticipation when you've had a good night's sleep...or chocolate.