Change is Inevitable. Growth Is Optional.

Change… it’s the only constant.

We can fight it, we can try to avoid it, but change happens.

Change can be really hard. We as a people, are not by nature, adaptive to change. Why? Change means ‘new.’ Change involves the unknown. Change means breaking comfortable patterns. Change involves going outside our comfort zone. And while change can come as a huge relief if we’ve just moved past a bad chapter in our lives, change can also be very scary. It involves tremendous risk, and can really tickle our insecurities.

But here’s what’s true– you make the choice about how you’re going to respond to change. You hold the power. As we enter spring next month, the ultimate period of regrowth and renewal, understand that change welcomes in a wonderful sense of freedom.

Tory Burch‘s quote above applies to business, true, but it also applies to marriage, parenting, or just LIFE. When we sit complacent and stuck on the fence paralyzed by fear of change, life will just pass us by.

As the quote so truly goes: Change is Inevitable. Growth Is Optional.

I underwent a name change on Twitter a few years. I went from @WomenOnTheFence to @EricaDiamond. I am on Twitter… A LOT. Over 100,000 tweets to be exact. I sat on the fence for months until I actually did it. It meant me stepping out with my name, and declaring that my personal name, is part of the Women On The Fence brand. But I decided to make the change because many of the @WomenOnTheFence tweets were my own personal tweets, and I felt that it was more authentic if people saw and connected with the person behind the Women On The Fence Twitter profile. For the most part, people responded positively and embraced it, and said that they felt like they were talking TO someone now.

But I also got a few comments like, “Oh, so now you’re branding Erica Diamond? What about Women On The Fence?” And I wasn’t sure if it was my fans who were afraid of the change, or me. I second-guessed my change. But nothing at all had changed. This blog was, is, and will always be about Real Inspiration for the Modern Woman. About helping women prioritize self-care, get off the fence, and live a better life. The thing is, we just don’t like change. Change makes us uncomfortable.

And then, a new change again in 2021. After being an essential oils junkie forever, I launched my own line of the highest quality and purest therapeutic grade essential oils on the market, Bliss Essential. Back to being a beginner again. I am loving the challenge and the chance to help more people.

Change is so often necessary to grow and evolve. Buttt, sometimes we don’t choose change… change chooses us. Sometimes, we don’t have a choice but to change. Perhaps you have been fired from your job, perhaps your partner has left you, perhaps you received a rejection letter for something you wanted. And if you haven’t been raised with an unlimited supply of nurturing, love and support, it can be hard to exercise the FEARLESS and RESILIENCE muscle.

So, if you are experiencing a situation whereby you’ve been left with no choice but to accept change, hopefully these tips will help you go with the current, instead of trying to swimming upstream.

• Understand that change will ALWAYS involve some loss- mourn the loss and look for the lesson. Even change in happy situations involves a loss- when you get married, you gain a wonderful partner, but you lose some of your freedom. When you get promoted in your career, you may get a better and higher paying job, but you lose the comfort of your old position. Change means loss- the sooner you can mourn it, be resilient and move on, the better.
• Develop the attitude that your “thoughts” create your “reality.” It’s a bit of an overused concept, but it is true. If you approach change with negative thoughts, negative energy, and negative emotions, your situation will most likely have a negative outcome.
• Let go. Surrender. Welcome the change. Try and embrace the notion that life happens FOR US and not TO US– and if the change is a negative one, believe it brings a gift. Find the gift. The change has come upon you to learn a lesson. Find the lesson, and learn from it. When I did not get into MBA School, I was devastated. I thought my life was over. So, I took another road. And the outcome has been wonderful even though I couldn’t see it at the time.
• Practice living in the moment. I learned about the power of living in the moment in great detail at Canyon Ranch as I have blogged about before. If you allow your thoughts wander to past moments or future times, you will lose the proper coping skills to face the change. You will feel totally overwhelmed. So deal with today, today! It will all seem a lot less scary.

Change is an opportunity for growth and positivity- even if it doesn’t come neatly packaged in a bow. Make the commitment to live life ON PURPOSE, and don’t be afraid to readjust your sail when the wind changes direction.

I have never felt more alive and willing to grow. COVID has done a lot of that forcing. The wisdom is within all of us if we’re willing to move outside of our invisible box.

Love and blessings,