Nothing stays the same. Don’t believe that? Well, take a look in the mirror. I would bet that you have changed from the time you were ten years old. Perhaps some change since your last birthday? 

Things do change whether we initiate the change or whether it comes without a prompt. The bigger question is how do we deal with change? Do we make it an ally or do we address it as a foe?

Leon Martel, in Mastering Change, the Key to Business Success, presented three common traps that often keep us from recounting and using change:

• We believe that yesterday’s solutions will solve today’s problems.
• We assume present trends will continue.
• We too often neglect opportunities offered by future change.

If you feel that tomorrow will be like today and today is much like yesterday, you are already a victim of a clouded reality. You can live life and do so effectively if you take an ostrich view of life. In other words, even if you stick your head in the sand, when you pull it out, something has changed.

Change is a part of life. Yes, there are changes we don’t like. For example, I no longer see gas prices under thirty cents per gallon. Sears is no longer where America shops. I do not have the body of Adonis any longer. Well, maybe I never did; but that is beside the point. Each day we arise and have made it to another sunrise, we will have some form of change confronting us. I’ve found that most often when you embrace the change presented, clear your mind of the evil comments you may utter, and embrace the new opportunity, you are more likely to welcome change as a normal part of your world. That is much better than stressing yourself out over the fact that you rarely speak to a live person when you call the electric company. The stress you produce will do absolutely nothing to prolong your life. 

In their book, Change is Good, You Go First, Mac Anderson and Tom Feltenstein pointed out the following: “Change is not easy, but it is simple. Things will always change. We don’t have a choice about that, but we do have a choice how we react to change…either we manage change, or it will manage us.”  So think about it. Change is pretty good overall. We no longer have to ride a horse to town. We can fly to faraway places in a matter of hours, not months by land or sea. We have medical care that can immediately address virtually any situation effectively versus having someone look us in the face and say, “There is nothing we can do about the leg, we have to cut it off.” We sit back and watch this convenience called television that broadcasts movies, sporting events, and what some call news as it happens, not months or even years after the fact. The list can go on and on. So, while change can hurt, without change, where would we be in this great adventure called life? 

Perhaps it is time to conclude that even though we may have to grit our teeth, we need change to open the door to new opportunities and advancement. As Charles F. Kettering said, “The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.”