Changing Your Pants

One of my sisters used to lecture in organisational change at a university. Just to get them paying attention, she would start the first lecture with “Hands up who changed their pants from yesterday’s this morning?” All hands would go up. “Was that difficult?” she asked. And then she proceeded to tell them that change is inevitable and so we had all better get used to it and embrace it when it is necessary.

But the fact is that for some people change is always difficult, no matter how necessary they admit it to be.

For others, it is forced upon them and their reaction can be open rebellion or passive-aggressive compliance - or they simply become disengaged and unhappy.

Of course, some people embrace change and find it exciting. And change happens, just like the seasons. So if you are someone who finds change difficult and you either know it is on it’s way or it is already happening around you and you know you are going to have to change with it - let’s talk about it on a call. Sometimes just telling someone about it, and hearing your own voice speaking out the ways in which you fear it will negatively affect you, can help you:

  • to see it in a different light and recognise the possible benefits

  • to better articulate the negatives and decide who you will speak to about them

  • to look a little deeper into what might lie behind your resistance to the change and find ways to reduce the impact on you.

People keep talking about returning to normal don’t they? And then we hear others talk about a ‘new normal’, whatever that will be. Life is full of changes at the moment - with where we can go and who we can be with. This is impacting a great many people and if you sense it is time to face up to the fact that you are finding the current climate really tough because of all the changes, do please get in touch; I’d love to help.