The Dynamics of Change

I'm a millennial, and apart from that I believe I am a forward-thinking individual. I embrace change, I like to see change and I accept change ... but...

I don't always embrace, see or accept change. Social change is always welcoming. I am always fighting for increased visibility and access for the less privileged. However, anything that involved my own growth and change...takes some time, and perhaps a bit of coercion. 

We've spoken about fear a lot. How fear cripples action and stops dreams in their tracks. I have been crippled by fear for most of my adult life. In recent months I have been trying to put fear aside. Recently, this manifested through me writing that blog post last month on the Avengers. That was something I was very anxious about; even though I keep the language very "conversational" on here, I just felt like that was a part of my thought processes that should remain private. So it took a bit of "bravery" - to share that bit of myself. Where the fear kicked in again (and eventually crippled my progress) was for the podcast. I really couldn't bring myself to do it because I was just so fearful of having to share via audio. Sounds irrational. but all fear is irrational. 

I can't describe how my thought processes work, analyzing how to exhibit fear (and in which circumstances) - why am I calm when my mother goes into surgery but freak out at the thought of going to a new therapist? 

Several speakers have spoken about FEAR- False Evidence Appearing Real. In actuality, what can a lizard do to you? But it didn't stop my mother from almost cracking her head open running from one. Fear stops us in our tracks...it prevents us from embracing change. It even causes us to do irrational things. 

I just did a Google search to find a comparatively cool meaning for CHANGE, and found this: Creating Hope And Nurturing Genuine Empowerment.  Isn't the internet just a wonderful place (most times)? I really like this and I am going to just scribble this in my "goal book". 

Change is inevitable. It is the only way to evolve (create hope, and nurture genuine empowerment😃) . Accepting change, however, is difficult. All our beliefs, things we hold dear and how we interact with the society come from somewhere. Usually somewhere relatively sacred (to you at least), and it takes quite a while to build up these "things". So it is difficult to accept something other than your norm. It takes some time to re-train your brain. 

One of my favourite theories is the Stages of Change. It states that the process to accepting/adopting change is not linear (even though it may present that way in the diagram); there are several stages one has to go through and there can even be periods of regression.

Image from AddictionInfo.org

Now, to be fair, the stages of change model was created initially to describe how an addict can move away from damaging behaviour. Like many of the social change theories it was created as a way to examine the process to smoking cessation. But over time was adopted for a range of other behaviours and is used as a tool to explain/plan/prepare for social change. 

I'll explain the stages in the podcast, so stay tuned for that. However, my interpretation of the arrows is that:  where there is only one arrow - that's where the individual has to make concrete decisions about change; and where both arrows exist - that's where individuals and society have a role in the success of being able to accept and adopt the change. 

We are products of our environment (and it is rapidly changing). Change has to come, whether we like it or not, to all aspects of our lives. Let us not allow fear to keep us chained to the past, but let us embrace, accept and adapt.