My daughter does not do well with change. I remember several years ago, when she was about 5 years old, my husband and I decided to switch her bedroom to our larger guest room, since she had seriously outgrown the smaller room that had served as her nursery.
She was horrified.
"But I'll miss my bedroom," she said, her lower lip quivering.
"But you'll have a bigger, better bedroom!" I persisted. "And you'll get to bring all your stuff into the new bedroom."
"But it's not my bedroom," she whimpered.
It was time to pull out the big guns. "Well, how about this -- your dad and I will paint your room pink." She loved the colour pink. "See? So much better than your green room now!"
"It's not my bedroom," she insisted.
Finally, I convinced her to give her new room a try, telling her that if she didn't like it after a while, we'd consider moving her back to her old room. Her father and I painted her room, and decorated it to be the bedroom of her dreams, and still she reluctantly moved in. In fact, it was several weeks before she came around.
Yes, my daughter definitely does not like change.
But the truth is, it's not just 5-year-olds that have a problem with change: change can be painful, can't it? A friend of mine who recently had unprecedented success in her career confided in me, "I actually feel a bit depressed about it all -- is that weird?" And of course, I didn't find it weird at all -- I knew exactly what she meant. The truth is that even good change can be difficult to deal with in the moment.
But recently, I'm finally starting to realize that change is the same thing as opportunity, albeit disguised in an uncomfortable costume. As "Richard from Texas" says in the movie Eat, Pray, Love, "your life is changing ... and that's not a bad thing."
Besides, many years ago, when I was going through a tough time, a friend once told me, "it will all work out in the end. If it isn't working out, it isn't the end yet." And damned if she hasn't been proved right countless times since then.
Day 8 prompt:
Today, let's focus on the change in our lives: big changes that have happened in the past, changes that we've dealt with in 2012, or even seasonal changes. Reflect on what each change has taught you, or what good opportunities arose as a result of the change, even if it was painful at the time.
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If you haven't been playing along with our 10 days of Thanksgiving, and you'd like to catch up, here are the previous days' prompts!
Day 1: HOME
Day 2: GIFTS & SUPERPOWERS
Day 3: COOLER WEATHER
Day 5: CREATIVITY
Day 6: COMFORT FOOD & DRINKDay 7: MUSIC
