Change is Important

Back in undergrad, I had this badass professor who was teaching one of the human development courses of my Family Studies program. She was always the most organized professor and would always teach us these really important life lessons that I still remember today.

One important lesson that really stuck with me was the idea that change is a constant part of life. Duh— we all know that! But why does it feel so hard sometimes? She linked it with stress. Stress is the way that our body responds to change. We are stressed when things are good and experience positive symptoms (good feelings) like joy, happiness, silliness, etc. We also feel stressed when facing uncertainty and maybe feel things like worry or fear. So essentially she taught me that stress and change are a constant part of life and being able to normalize that helped me to not be as overwhelmed by it. Sure this is a very generalized and over simplified version… but imagine how a simple reminder of this can help improve our day to day?

By thinking about how change and stress impacts our daily lives in both the positive and the negative, perhaps we can change our thinking so that we can see it as something that we are good at? Think about how many changes you’ve mastered at this point in your life! Think about how you’ve been able to get through so many stressful times in your life— because they happen all the time.

How cool is it that we are all experts at change and stress because we adapt everyday?!