If you have that sense of dread, fear or worry about the changes that are coming in your direction what I want to share with you today are some strategies to help you be able to cope so that you can actually deal with it and get on with your life. The very first thing to consider is how this change might actually be good and sometimes to get us thinking in that way we may need to share the problem with somebody else because sometimes if we’ve got really fixated on the idea of a change being very bad, it can be difficult to find our own motivation and our own ideas about how change might be useful for us. 

Consider talking to someone else about the changes that you have coming up that you perceive might be bad for you. I would always suggest talking to your parents because your parents know some stuff, they’ve been there and done it all already. Sometimes you can go to someone completely different and they’ll say the same thing as what your parents said to you. Find someone that you trust to whom you can explain your worries about the changes that are coming up and ask them to help you find the positive things about it. What’s going to be good about this change? If you’re finding it difficult to find the answers to that question for yourself then get someone to help you do it for you. 

Another reason why change is good for you is that it allows you to learn and grow. By growing, I mean that it helps your brain to grow and for you to become more intelligent and better equipped to deal with change and other situations that may pop up in front of you. Change can indeed be good for us because it stops us from just doing the same old thing day in and day out going around in the same circle.

One thing you can guarantee about change is that it probably will be uncomfortable even if it’s a change that you’re looking forward to, you can almost guarantee that there are going to be points in time when you feel a little bit uncomfortable because you may be outside your comfort zone. 

If you go into something which is brand new for you and you don’t get that sense of discomfort, it probably means that that particular change isn’t really stretching you as much as something else could have done. It means that you know, you might just be feeling fully equipped and ready to go into that situation but it’s not really pushing you to the next level. The situations where you feel most uncomfortable are the ones where they are either in your brain or in your emotions, really pushing you to the next level in your life. 

Those are the ones that are actually going to have the most positive impact on you in your future because the other thing that I wanted to tell you about in respect of what change it does for us is it really increases our capacity to be able to cope as well as all of that growth and learning that we might get from change. Being able to develop your bravery, your resilience and all of those emotional skills that you have and to be able to sort of go into these new situations and get on with it even when it feels a little bit uncomfortable is a really good thing for you to do because if you can do it in this one area of your life it will expand your mind in such a way but you’ll be able to do it in other areas of your life going forward and that means that you’ll have a lot more opportunities available to you as a result of being able to live your life in that way. Therefore, go forth and embrace the change that is coming in your direction. 

By Gemma Bailey
www.childtherapisthertfordshire.nlp4kids.org