Seasons Change. How will you change with them?

Seasons are changing.  Leaves are beginning to take on a tinge of red or yellow (at least in my area!)  Air is more cool and crisp.  School is starting.  Labor Day has passed for another year.  

While change is a constant, it doesn't prepare you for navigating it gracefully.  Even life changes that people choose (e.g. marriage, pregnancy, changing job responsibilities) show up on lists of life stressors.

Even if you are ready for a change, it remains scary in its uncertainty, unpredictability, and lack of control.  That said, the way in which you approach change directly impacts your experience and emotions about it.  If you "like how things are" then change becomes threatening. 

If you view change as an opportunity or adventure, a next chapter, or a natural or spiritual evolution, you can shift toward curiosity, excitement, acceptance, and hope.

In my work, I've frequently found that even people who want change are reluctant to actually seek out and implement changes unless things have become otherwise unbearable in their current state. 

And tolerance for what's "bearable" varies.  Can you identify a time you were unhappy with how things were, and yet felt reluctant to make changes?  I certainly can!

This isn't to say that your grief doesn't deserve space.  It most certainly does.  And, grief, fear, and sadness can coexist right alongside the hope, curiosity, excitement, and wonder with a focus on how the change can lead to transformation.

Nature provides excellent lessons and guidance for us about change. 

As I was walking yesterday evening, I snapped the photo (above) of the ripening grapes.  

Several months ago barren stalks, appearing dead, were all that could be seen.  Now they are covered in speckled leaves and various shades of green and purple berries.

The journey will go through another transition as the birds consume the grapes and harvest morphs the grapes (through crushing process, no less) into wine.

And their journey will continue, through bottling and aging, through a digestive process, which is where I will leave off their journey in deference to those with more detailed expertise of human anatomy and so on...  😉😊😆

Next spring, the stalks will again look depleted and hopeless...yet, somehow, I trust that they will know how to grow and bear more fruit.

Just as you do.  

No matter how depleted or crushed you feel, no matter how barren or dead, hopeless or uncertain the future looks, this transition, too, will lead to your growth.

You matter.  You can make a difference.  I'm so thankful you're here.