HOW TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR THE BETTER

Have you met people who are complaining about their lot in life? Finances, love life, marriage, work, family etc. Strangely enough, the same people would be unwilling to do anything about the situation. Have you never met such people? Are you one of them? I know I am.

Why is Change Necessary?

There’s a rather common saying about change. And it goes like this: If you don’t like where you are, move. You are not a tree.

I kinda love that saying. It’s cute, right? But there’s a problem or two with it. For one, it oversimplifies a complex and difficult issue. Secondly, it’s not very helpful, is it?

So, why would you want to change? OK, the obvious answer would be to live a happy and satisfying life. That’s a vague answer but it’ll do for now. Anyway, when the time is right for change, you’ll know.

Without change, you will continue to bemoan your life. You will continue to be miserable whilst wondering why other people seem to have it all. And what’s worse, when you are miserable, other people’s happiness rubs you the wrong way.

Anyway, I do not have to convince you of the necessity for change. You know you have to change some aspect of your life. You know this and what’s more important, you know why.

If that’s the case, why are you not doing anything to change whatever needs changing? Let’s dig in further.

Change is Hard

Change is indeed hard. Real, meaningful change. The majority of people find change disruptive and intrusive. Once they get into the habit of doing something, they prefer sticking to it. Whether this is painful or crappy, does not matter.

What matters to them is comfort and familiarity. You see, this is meant to a good thing. There is a psychological reason for this.

 

Let’s take driving a car, for example. Driving a car for the first time is a traumatic but exciting experience. Do you remember your first time? Your steering was probably jerky and almost heart stopping, right? How was your acceleration and braking? Exhilarating but terrifying at the same time. In fact more terrifying than exhilarating, if you ask me.

But after a while, your driving improves and you wonder what all the fuss was about. You become an expert driver and your driving on auto pilot.

In a way, this is exactly what happens when we do anything for the first time. But once we get the hang of things, we become relaxed and life goes on.

What makes change so hard is that the initial stages are terrifying and actually threatens our continued existence. I know this is somewhat dramatic but it’s true.

So, when you look at what you have and you contrast that to what you have to go through in order to change, it all doesn’t seem worth it. And if it doesn’t seem worth it, why go through it?

That is why change is hard.

How to go about Change

·        Realize that this is not a test run: Your life is not- a- practice anything. This is real and you have only one shot. Picture this: You are a striker playing for best team in the world. Your team is awarded a penalty at the eleventh hour. You are given the dodgy honor of scoring it.

You score this and your team wins the championship. You miss and well, you know what will likely happen.

The enormity of this responsibility is both frightening but exciting as well. But as you prepare to take this penalty, what would be going through your head? More to the point, what kind of effort are you going to deliver?

This is exactly like our lives. We have one shot and cannot afford to continue being content with a mediocre existence. You are not doing anyone, including yourself, justice by living this way. In fact, the world would be poorer for it.

·        Realize that it is all in your hands: Whether your life becomes an adventure or continues to be ca pain is up to you. No one can live your life. At some point, you have to start realizing that. The sooner the better.

There are countless accounts of people going through difficult times and succeeding in the end. These people are an ordinary lot. They just realized that they have a say as to what their lives will turn out to be.

 

You too have a say in your own life. Make the most of it.

 

·        Realize that there is no better time than now: When I say now, I mean NOW. Not after you read this article or whatever. You have to start changing whatever dissatisfactory aspect of your life right now.

Start now. How? Well, here’s an idea. Why don’t you start small? Yes, change doesn’t have to be particularly earth shattering.

Start small but start now.

CONCLUSION

Life is meant to be lived. But as I am sure you’ve realized, change is necessary. Start changing what you are not happy about immediately. Take the necessary steps to get the ball rolling.

The way I see this is that you change your life or you stop complaining and continue living in misery.

I don’t know about you but I’d rather change.