Change Ahead

Many years ago (in a past this life), I was a certified as a DISC teacher. (its one of those profile and human behavior assessment tools) Something I have never forgotten from that experience was that the majority of the people in the world that they had assessed were S’s. Steady ~ Don’t like Change, prefer consistent, like stability. Accommodating, peace-seeking. Like helping and supporting others. Good listeners and counselors. Close relationships with few friends. Ask, rather than tell. Ask ‘How?’ and ‘When?’

That tells us that the majority of people find change disorienting, creating within us an anxiety similar to culture shock that many of the refugees must be feeling now, the unease visitors to an alien land feel because of the absence of the familiar cues they took for granted back home. With an established routine, we don’t have to think! And thinking is hard work.

For you that are leaders or teachers or healers of some sort it’s also important to note that The general population breakdown is that 3% of people are classified as D’s, 11% are I’s, S’s are 69%, and 17% are C’s.

This means that those that are leaders in the 3% of D’s just can’t bulldoze your way into people’s consciousness. It is a definite challenge to the D’s watching this to readdress how they are communicating with others especially right now when tremendous FEAR causes us to really run back to our comfort zones.

We tend to respond to change the same way we respond to anything we perceive as a threat: by flight or fight. Our first reaction is flight — we try to avoid change if we can. We seal ourselves off from those around us and try to ignore what is happening. But the changes ahead are inescapable.

Even worse is to fight, to actively resist change. Resistance tactics might include negativity, destructive criticism, attacking or shaming others online, projecting our fear onto others by creating enemies and even out right sabotage.

In my journey I have found that there are 5 Important Ways that I have found to move thru change:

1. Recognize that you are in change. ~ As we have said, most of us have a natural aversion to change. We have a tendency to want to stick our heads in the sand and hope that it will go away by the time we come up for air.

This strategy may provide short-term relief, but it never helps in the long-run. Denial does not make our problems disappear; instead it usually makes things worse by giving us less time to think through a reasoned response. Instead, when unexpected circumstances arise, it is best to face them head on.

1. Honestly face your fears ~ Not every person has the same tolerance to risk. Some adventurous souls actually relish the adventure of new situations. Others like their life exactly as it is: nice and predictable. For these people, the idea of change produces fear. We recommend finding an online community that supports you and meets many of your needs as well as building community locally so that if the electric or internet fails you will still have local support.

2. Communicate, communicate, communicate!~One of the biggest errors made during times of change the underestimating the need for communication. It’s hard for people so having lots of compassion and tolerance for many different levels of conversation is vital. We need one another’s wisdom and ideas right now more than ever.

3. Take stock of your resources ~ Anytime unforeseen circumstances arise, a key step is to evaluate the resources you have at your disposal as you deal with the issue.

4. Anticipate stress ~ Change is rarely easy; it is often a source of great stress. To make matters worse, each of deal with it completely differently. Times of intense pressure can either pull you together or push you apart. Stress will come, and you need to ensure that it does not divide and conquer.