By having a plan, you can be ready when things go a little off course
By Gail Supplee Tatum, Columnist, The Times
Change is Inevitable!
That is the one thing we can count on, in life! It is how we handle change that makes the difference between maneuvering through a change or being thrown completely off balance by it. The key words in coping with change are strategy, preparation and expectations.
You might ask, “How can I prepare when I don’t know what’s coming or when?” Being ever mindful of the schedule you have created and particularly of your priorities, you will begin to realize that you must put those priorities first. We all understand that emergencies do happen, and that there are times when it’s necessary to drop everything you are doing and run! Hopefully, those times don’t happen too many times in your life. So, how do we deal best with everyday changes?
There are three keys points to maneuvering through change:
1. Don’t let anything throw you off course! Keep your intentions and focus alive. For example, if a friend asks you to help them with a project that is very important to them, you may think to yourself that the only thing important to you is the friendship. You start your internal dialogue by thinking, “I don’t want to disappoint my friend. However, if I help my friend at this particular time, I will be putting an important task of mine, aside.” How would that make you feel? At the end of the day, you might be sad or frustrated that you didn’t accomplish what was important to you. Here’s how you handle your friend’s request. Tell your friend that you don’t have your schedule on you and ask if you can get back to them. Then, when you do, say, “I can help you today but how does a different time of day sound, rather than the one you suggested?” More than likely, your friend will accommodate, because they really need the help and can be flexible. Don’t be a slave to anyone else’s schedule, only yours!
2. Insure change. What do I mean by that? Plan and be prepared. There are many different types of insurance. Have all of your insurances in a row, from financial insurance, to life insurance and health/medical insurance. Some of your financial insurances may take some time. Remember the Darren Hardy book, The Compound Effect? He states that small adjustments turn into big accomplishments. By setting aside a manageable amount of money once a month, you will be accumulating a nest egg for unexpected occurrences. Your strategy is to prepare yourself before you have to. When we wait until we “have to” change, we often times make “knee-jerk” decisions that are not well thought out.
3. Be aware of your expectations. There’s an old proverb from 1200AD reminding us, “This too shall pass”. In other words, life is serendipitous, going from good to bad and back again. When things are going great, such as our children getting married, a new grandchild being born, our investments hitting big, or being able to pay off our mortgage, we wish these days to last a lifetime. Instead of soaking in all the fortunate moments, most of us are just waiting for the next shoe to drop.
Sadly, we all seem to waste so much time and energy on worrying about the changes that may happen: getting sick, kids leaving the nest, losing a job, having a loved one get sick, political unrest, and even natural disasters. Yet, if we could be as Rudyard Kipling says in his poem IF, “If you can meet with triumph and disaster/And treat those two imposters just the same” we would surely be more at peace. In addition, if we could treat them just the same, we might find we have more zest for life. After all, since we cannot control so much of our life, why don’t we just embrace all the bad with the good? Is it because our society expects life to be all good? If we expected the bad with the good, would we all ever feel such angst and worry? Perhaps this is why Buddhists seem to be the happiest people on the earth; their basic philosophy is the inherent unsatisfactoriness of life.
As we keep reFiring, let us all remember that the one thing we can count on in life is change, and it is how we deal with change that makes all the difference. When we make decisions strategically, when we prepare for change through insurances and financial wealth, and when we keep our expectations realistic, we can embrace change and remain on our course.
May you stay your course!
