Change Creates Discomfort- This is Good!

Change always creates discomfort- I think the saying is that change is inevitable and growth is optional.

You may remember the story of the frog who was put into lukewarm water and it was so comfortable that it never wanted to leave- each day the temperature of the water was increased until eventually the water was boiling and the frog never jumped out!

The level to which each of us protects the status quo is where we also suffer because our desire to defend and protect will override our desire to grow. That is unless you believe or learn to believe that being uncomfortable is good and it is in the discomfort that we evolve.

A strong influencer on me these days and I have mentioned him in the past- Donny Epstein is a pioneer in the mind/body connection to change. Science has backed his concepts and strategies and his ideas on how humans need to adapt are evolutionary.

His research has shown that the more flexible and adaptable we can become as humans the more we wills strive to create ‘thriving’ lives rather than merely surviving.

I don’t know about you but I want to thrive because that is far more exciting and has growth potential – surviving is protecting the status quo.

Think of current changes you are going through right now, you might be changing jobs, you might have been recently downsized, you might have a new boss when you loved the previous boss, you might be getting married, you might be getting a divorce, your children could be leaving home, you could be dealing with a health challenge, you could be moving and so on.

Whatever the change is that you are making you can acknowledge that there is discomfort with the change, any of the change examples listed above creates a question of ‘what will happen next” or ” what do I do now?” AND you can also acknowledge when looking back at changes you have made in the past that the change always turned into something that caused you to grow and learn from. Even those changes that we perceive as ‘bad’ have taken you in a direction that would not have happened without the change.

Donny Epstein says that if people put as much energy into embracing change and forcing the growth as they do in protecting the status quo then everyone would be ‘thriving’ not just surviving.

So as you navigate the many changes that you are experiencing either begin or continue to welcome the discomfort.

Listen to the discomfort ask it what it wants you to do to and what it wants you to change. Listen to the answer and then do it!

Always the discomfort will provide guidance on how we can increase our self care, create a new solution or take a new direction. That is the ultimate message from the discomfort- something HAS to change!