Fear Of Change

FEAR OF CHANGE

On the theme of change and remembering the the lady who wanted to change the world but used the excuse that she ‘couldn’t get a babysitter’  with the result that she changed nothing at all, I found this poem by Sam Byron, entitled ‘Fear of Change’:

• Set in your ways, no one wants.
• The only thing constant is change.
• Change is the one thing we can count on because change is inevitable.
• Fear of change hinders us as a society.
• Fear of change makes us immobile and unable to accept change.
• Fear change only when you stop changing.
• Without change we cannot go forward.

Will Garcia said, ‘The first step towards change is acceptance.  Once you accept yourself, you open the door to change.  That’s all you have to do.  Change is not something you do, it’s something you allow’.

Fear of change is in most cases accompanied by feelings of insecurity and insecurity.  However, a life without change would be monotonous and unexciting.  Life is always susceptible to change and if you suffer from fear of change, you will soon lose a zest for life.

Apprehension when faced with change is normal but when this turns into an irrational fear it can be diagnosed as metathesiophobia

You can basically react to change in the following ways:-

• Taking no part in the process;  neither embracing it or rejecting it
• Silent resistance, offering no help or assistance and putting up barriers indirectly
• Vocal criticism and an assumption that all change is bad
• Or you can ask “What can I use this change for to make a positive impact on the things I can do, even if I’m uncomfortable with the change or pace of change?”

A Change Management Programme used by large organisations to help the workforce cope with change, asks the employees to imagine that they are on board a ship.  They then have to think about how they feel about the planned changes in their working practices in terms of whether they could identify with the freight, the passengers, the pirates or the crew on board the ship.  Identifying with the  freight meant that the employees were negative  and would do nothing  to facilitate the change:  identifying with the passengers meant that those employees felt positive about the proposed change but that they would still do nothing to ensure its acceptance, the pirates were those who felt negative and who would do lots to try to stop the change being incorporatedand the crew were employees who felt positive about the change and were prepared to do lots to make sure the change was made smoothly.

Tips on Coping with Change

1) Look upon every change, however small, as something positive

2) Discuss the change

3) Get support from other people who have experienced something similar

4) View change as part of the human growth process and therefore should not be feared

Lots of us think we are no good at coping with change but in fact, as adults, you will already have coped with lots of change in your life and have masses of experience to draw upon.  Some of those changes you will have managed better than others.

One of the most helpful things you can do to help cope with change is to stop telling yourself that it’s bad and that you’re no good at it.

Jane C Woods suggests that we do an exercise that will change our life in half an hour by answering the question “What would change my life for the better?”

The aim is to write down everything that comes to mind – mad, good and seemingly unachievable.  Think about people you admire, careers you would like, places you’d like to visit, people you’d like to spend time with – consider everything about your life.

Stop after 30 minutes and have a break.  Have a look at the list again and count how many ideas you generated.  Don’t look at it and think “too much ever to do” but instead, look at it and think, “My life is full of possibilities!”

This exercise will make you feel empowered and inspired.  Remember that you can accomplish anything if you set your mind to it!