The Importance of Why Change is Good
I wasn’t a big fan of change before. It’s always been hard for me to let go of the familiar and embrace the unknown. I like things to be comfortable and routine-based. But, I’ve recently come to realize that change is actually a good thing – especially when it comes to personal growth.
In this blog post, I’ll be discussing the importance of change and how it can benefit your life in many ways. So, if you’re someone who’s hesitant to change, or if you simply want to learn more about why change is important, then keep reading!
What is change?
Now, I’m not talking about the loose coins in your pocket. Change is defined as making something different. Whether that be changing clothes in the morning, changing jobs, or maybe changing your perspective on things. Change is what makes us into new and ever-evolving people.
Why is change hard?
It’s not easy adjusting to new situations, new experiences, or even just doing something different from what we’re used to. After all, change means leaving the safety of the past behind and stepping into the unknown. Our brains are wired to resist change, even when it’s for our own good.
The part of our brains known as the “amygdalae,” is responsible for regulating our emotions and past experiences. It’s also the part of our brain that deals with our “fight or flight.” This part of our brain will signal change as threats which makes it tough for us to want to make that decision.
Our brain is programmed to keep us safe and comfortable. We naturally don’t want to experience something we haven’t before because we don’t know what to expect. I feel that after learning this information from a scientific point of view, I was able to better realize that I should embrace change.
So moving forward, I changed my perspective of seeing the difficulty of change as a roadblock into something more of a piece of the puzzle that comes in the box.
Why change is good
When you step out of your comfort zone and try something new, you open yourself up to a world of new possibilities. I used to do the same things in hopes that something in my life would magically happen.
But why would it? You don’t read a chapter of a book over and over in hopes that something new might happen. It’s the everyday changes in our lives that change how our future turns out.
We’ve gone from horses and buggies to cars and planes; from rotary phones to smartphones; from telegrams to text messages. The list goes on and on. The bottom line is, if we want to keep up with the times, we need to be willing to change with them.
So what are some positive benefits that change can offer for our individual lives?
1. New Skills/ New Knowledge
Change can increase our skills and knowledge. We can then use these for our business or even our job/career to help elevate our performance. It can also help us make more money.
2. More Opportunities
Change opens doors to new and amazing opportunities. It can help us learn new things and meet successful people. When we embrace change, it can lead us to new and wonderful experiences. Imagine the possibilities!
3. Offers a Fresh Start
One of the beauties of change is that you can start over. If you don’t like where your life is, you can start making big changes to steer yourself in a new direction. Big change can offer big results.
4. Achieve Goals
To achieve your goals, you must accept that in order to gain new things in life, new things must be done. It’s the little things you change that can make a big impact.
5. Overall Increase in Personal Development
In order to grow as a person, you must make small changes and big changes to shift where your life is headed to. Growing in itself is changing. And it’s this change that can help improve your health, your well-being, and your life. You can do amazing things when you change your bad habits into good ones.
6. It Can Be Fun
It can be fun trying new things and experiencing different opportunities. Think of life like a video game. You don’t have fun repeating the same level over and over. It’s fun to level up and take on new challenges to see what we can do.
What changes can we make to improve ourselves?
There are tons of ways to make a great change in our lives. Here are some changes I made recently and years ago to help me grow as a person.
1. Habits
Habits for me were one of the more difficult things to change. Things like drowning myself in social media for hours or even choosing to snack on unhealthy foods.
These habits kept me from achieving goals and getting things done. But if you can change that, then you’ll be on track to get things done and it’s inevitable to reach goals.
2. How I Carry Myself
What I mean by this is many things, but ultimately how I present myself to the world. For example, I used to slouch and speak quietly.
A large reason for this was my social phobia, but little changes in my body language and change in my mindset helped me overcome this. I made changes in how I wanted the world to see me even if I wasn’t always this way.
3. Perspective
Growing up I used to think that college was the only way to become successful and get a good-paying job. Basically sticking to the status quo. During college, however, I was exposed to information that I’d never heard before and was eventually introduced to
entrepreneurship.
The perspective shift I had to make in order to consider it to work was one of the hardest things I had to do. I had to keep an open mind and welcome the idea that I don’t need a job to make money in this world.
Now I enjoy the flexible hours and sense of freedom that it brings and I couldn’t be happier now that I’m all in.
4. Mindset
Similar to perspective, I had to change how my mind thinks and what it does in certain situations. As mentioned, I suffered from social anxiety in the past and always thought I’d be stuck with it for the rest of my life.
Going into large crowds scared the hell out of me. I always felt like everyone was looking at me and or judging my every move. Over time with practice, I’ve been able to change how I think about these situations and change the actions I take.
Instead of freaking out and cornering myself away from attention, I see now that I can have fun and understand I’m not the center of attention.
5. Time Management
Managing my time was a big problem for me. I spent hours procrastinating to get my work done or even going to the gym. Things like social media, video games, and tv can increase our procrastination.
According to soocial.com, the average person spends over 200 minutes per day procrastinating. And to be honest, I was probably on the higher side of the statistic. So I set limits on my phone for social media and unsubscribed to a few streaming platforms to maximize my time. These subtle changes added hours on hours throughout my week, helping me progress at a faster rate.
6. Routine
I can’t tell you how many routine changes I’ve gone through. I’ve had to change when I worked out, when I ate, and when I worked throughout the day. Ultimately I accepted the fact I’d always be changing the routine.
For example, I change how I work out and diet since I’ve reached certain points in my journey. Also for work, I would switch ventures to see what I like and was forced to change how I planned my day. I’ve become accustomed to this and it’s been getting easier and easier.
How can we make these changes?
Now that we’ve started accepting change, let’s look at some of the steps I take when making change.
Note: These are not in any particular order
1. Embrace change
Once I accepted the fact that things were going to be different, I was able to invite the change into my life. Embracing change is the first step I took when I wanted to make one.
2. Analyze the change
What I mean by this is to take a look at the results in mind. I often ask myself, what will this change bring into my life? What’s it bring if I don’t change? Am I willing to make that change? Am I willing to live without the potential outcome?
3. Practice
Things take time and the more you do it the better you’ll become. The more you do something, you’ll be able to easily adapt over time. Essentially, you’re building resilience and this can help you push past new obstacles. Before you know it, this new change will be the new norm.
4. Don’t look back
When it comes to making a new change, I like to keep my eyes on the prize and understand that this is new. The new me, the new skills, and the new change in my life that going to make me better. On the other side change, brings me where I need to be.
5. Be brave
It’s tough making these changes and I often am in fear of the outcome. But being brave means being scared and doing it anyway. If I want better results then I have to deal with the fear and create different circumstances for myself.
6. Be patient
Sometimes, it can take lots of time and energy before seeing the results of your changes. What I do is “delay gratification.” I like to not expect the outcome at a certain time, but rather see it as a milestone that will come naturally as time goes on.
Final Thoughts
Change can be daunting, but it is often very worth it in the long run. Making even small changes in your life can lead to big results down the road.
The key is to get started and to keep going even when you feel like you can’t or don’t want to. Just remember why you’re making the change and how it will benefit you in the end.
Are you ready to make some positive changes in your life?
