Change is a part of every stage in our life. We adapt to new opportunities, to adopt new habits, to achieve new goals. Sometimes we cope with what life throws our way. It isn’t always something we choose to do, sometimes it is a result of something that has happened to us. This change can cause us excitement, joy and an eagerness to get started, and other times it can cause us fear, sadness or even anger.
Change is possible regardless of the reason and part of the reason I’ve started my podcast Fifties Unscripted: Embracing My Second Act.
As we grow, we face changes every day. They can be smaller like learning to play an instrument, while others can be life changing like becoming a parent. We need to find ways to adapt to how we approach change in our day-to-day life. Sometimes this will be easy as we are eager to change and enjoy what we are doing. Others may prove more challenging as we struggle with health, learning something more complicated, or deal with other factors beyond our control.
In my teen’s early twenties, I adjusted to starting post secondary and was faced with health challenges and a disability. In my thirties I got married and started raising a family, in my forties I separated, was diagnosed with another illness, lost my father and in my fifties, I took control of my weight, was diagnosed with ADHD and got engaged. And all along the way I changed my career multiple times.
As you can see, we experience change in diverse ways:
- At home: increased independence and responsibility as we grow, studying habits as we learn and go through school, parenting, relationships with friends and partners, moving, losing loved ones.
- At work: new jobs, projects, career growth, coworkers, managers, mentors, downsizing, job loss, workload, work ethic.
- Personal Lifestyle: health and wellness, self-care, diet, exercise, sleep, stress management, work life balance.
We are not alone in the changes we face, and everyone experiences and deals with change in unique ways. When I reflect on how I faced the change I can see that not everything was easy and the way I approached change varied depending on what it was. When I learnt new hobbies there was eagerness, excitement; when I adjusted to the loss of a loved one, it took more reflection and support.
As we face change, we need to take time to reflect:
- What is changing?
- Do I have a choice?
- How will this affect my work? My family? My friends? My way of life?
- What will the change look like?
- How will it make me feel?
- What do I need to do to make the change happen?
- How will I accept the change?
As difficult as change is, we need to face it and embrace it. Change shapes who we are and how we live our lives. Until we accept that change is normal, necessary and part of life it will be hard to make changes in the way we think, work, live.
Most recently I’ve found tools and resources that help me learn to adopt change. I’ve listed these resources below that I have found useful. My biggest lesson learned, I can’t change everything at once, I need to work on minor changes and sometimes I won’t be successful. That’s okay! Re-evaluate, why didn’t it work, what should I change and start again. I learnt to celebrate the small wins and acknowledge my accomplishments.
When changing behaviours, break things into smaller pieces, something more manageable to cope with.
- Plan,
- Talk to others and get support,
- Track your progress,
- Accept that you may stumble.
Change is never easy, even when it brings us benefits. It’s part of the reason I’ve started my podcast. It gives me a way to share my lived experiences and how change shaped me. It gives me a way to share the good, the bad and the ugly experiences with others to provide inspiration, ideas, a sense of community and hopefully let people know that they are not alone.
As I said earlier, we experience change at every stage of our life, you don’t need to be in your fifties, you don’t need to be a parent or have an illness or be dealing with earth shattering changes to tune into the podcast. It's a place to listen and hear, find things you relate to, share your comments on things you experienced and be part of a conversation. The more we share our differences, while seeing our similarities, the more we can appreciate each other and the things we don’t see right away.
Join me on this journey and let’s chat about the changes we all face and share our stories and lived experiences.
Helpful Resources:
www.youtube.com/@FiftiesUnscripted
self-care: Calm App (download to mobile or desktop from store)
planners: planmore app (download to mobile or desktop from store)
reminders: emails and calendar reminders (use your preferred tool, a mobile app, paper calendar or agenda)
currently reading: Atomic Habits by James Clear
currently enrolled: 30 Days to Better Habits Online Course by James Clear
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