Positive change in life can be difficult, especially if you have trouble letting go of the past or if you’re not sure how to move forward when you’re living in the present moment. This guide on how to welcome positive change will help you understand the importance of change in your life, explore the reasons why people resist it, and show you how to make space in your life for positive change to happen.
Change is inevitable.
The real question is: are you going to be a passive observer or will you have a hand in bringing about change?
How we perceive and react to changes that occur in our lives can define who we are and, more importantly, it can predict how successful we will be. Positive people are able to handle change better than those who aren’t as optimistic.
No matter what occurs – whether it’s related to your professional life or your personal life – don’t close yourself off from new possibilities just because you expect things won’t turn out well.
Life has a way of surprising us with its twists and turns when we least expect them; why close yourself off from new opportunities when they come knocking on your door?
Learn from every experience
Many people find it so hard to learn from their mistakes and the mistakes of others.
Those that can remember what they’ve done wrong in a certain situation can apply these lessons to other situations where similar factors may have caused similar issues, and make changes as appropriate.
It isn’t about pointing fingers or being judgemental. Instead, it’s about embracing criticism as feedback, analyzing that feedback, taking responsibility for your actions (or inaction), learning from those actions/inactions, making changes accordingly, and—most importantly—acting upon those new learnings by incorporating them into your future behavior.
Instead of making assumptions about yourself and creating negative self-images, look objectively at what went wrong in your experience and start brainstorming ideas for how you could have done things differently and better.
Remember: Everything happens for a reason.
Even negative experiences can have value
While we often think of change as being good or bad, in reality, each experience teaches us something and helps us grow.
Changing is part of life—and it’s not always going to be comfortable. But that doesn’t mean you should run from discomfort. By using whatever tools you have, you can learn to embrace your uncomfortable experiences as opportunities for growth. This ability will help you cultivate resilience over time and build a better sense of self-worth and confidence in yourself. And embracing positive change will make it easier to deal with negative changes when they come along. After all, if you know how to handle one kind of adversity, chances are you’ll also know how to handle another.
Change is inevitable; learning how to work with it instead of fighting against it is key!
Tips For Making Positive Changes
Identify a Positive Reason for Change
The most successful motivation for making a significant change in your life usually comes from within, based on something you want to gain from making that change.
For example, if you’re overweight and trying to lose weight, perhaps you might decide to do so because it will allow you to play with your children or grandchildren more easily when they’re older.
Whatever reason you give yourself for wanting to make a change is one worth holding onto. It can also be beneficial to list all of your motivating reasons on an index card, read through them each morning, and place them somewhere where you’ll see them throughout each day (such as on your bathroom mirror).
Ask Yourself Why You Want To Make That Change
Do some reflection. Ask yourself why it is that you really want to make whatever change it is you’re contemplating.
Try not to come up with an immediate answer, but take a few minutes and really think about what your reasons are for wanting to make such a shift in your life. Maybe you’ve always wanted to run a marathon or maybe you just want to lose weight so that you can feel better about yourself (or fit into clothes better).
Write down what comes up, even if those first answers don’t seem like they’ll stick in your mind over time. It can be helpful to keep all of these ideas together somewhere.
For example, put them on another index card and keep them in your pocket or purse. When you get a chance during your day—maybe when you’re sitting at stoplights waiting for traffic to pass—look at these cards and reflect on them again.
It might help move things along more quickly than trying to remember all of these ideas from memory later on when it matters most.
Make sure you know how to say No
Sometimes our own self-sabotage stops us from making positive changes in our lives.
The fear of turning down friends, family members, or co-workers—of saying no to someone we love–often stems from a fear of disappointing others.
Unfortunately, saying yes when we should be saying no doesn’t make us feel good about ourselves; instead, it often makes us feel guilty and anxious because we realize later on that we shouldn’t have agreed to something earlier.
Enjoy the process, don’t obsess over the destination
For a long time, I wanted to not only determine how the story would end but also the way it would go as well.
But over time, you will learn that there is no way you can plot out every little detail of your life, and expecting so much from yourself will leave you in an overwhelmed state of mind. You don’t have to plan every aspect of your life or force everything down a specific path—in fact, when we do that, we often come up short on what is actually important and what simply isn’t worth worrying about at all.
Things That Hold Us Back
Sometimes we are so comfortable in our discomfort it leaves us feeling hopeless or lacking the motivation to change things in our life.
We don’t want to let go of what is familiar and what makes us feel secure even though these habits hold us back from experiencing more freedom, fulfillment, and peace in our lives. We seek comfort but comfort isn’t what leads to happiness, passion and authentic connection with others is. What holds you back?
Many of us are stuck and don’t know how to break out of our comfort zone. There is a way, it’s not complicated but takes effort, practice and commitment. Each day we need only do a little something extra that brings us closer to where we want to be in life.
We are all on different journeys, no one can do what you can for yourself.
Sometimes, even when we know we’re ready for a change, our brains try to hold us back. It could be fear of failure or disappointment—but it’s important to remember that many times, these are simply feelings passing through your head; they don’t necessarily have roots in reality.
The key is learning how to deal with these feelings effectively so you can power through them and push forward toward your goals. Here are a few things you can do
The Bottom Line
It doesn’t matter what situation you find yourself in. Whether you’re moving on from a job or starting a business from scratch, life will go on. It might not be quite as you imagined, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be good. The first step is learning how to embrace and accept what comes your way; after all, life happens to us.
We don’t always get exactly what we want—but then again, we may get something even better.
When you open yourself up to change—even if it scares you—you never know just how happy it could make you.
