Why Is Change So Hard?

Is change difficult for you? Some people thrive off change, it energizes, motivates them and inspires them. For others though change threatens them, causes anxiety and insecurity. Personality, history, trauma all influence how we see change - whether we look forward to it or dread it.

The new year brings thoughts about where we've been and where we want to be in the future. 2016 brought enormous change into my life, change that was necessary but not necessarily wanted. You know the kind of change that needs to happen but you're never quite ready for it.

Change is not as much as the problem as adaptability is. Adaptability is the ability to adapt oneself readily to different conditions. It has been said to be one of the most important life skills you can acquire. Looking back over 2016 I realized the fear for me was how will my life look if I move forward with these changes. Not being able to predict the outcome left me somewhat paralyzed. Could I adapt to those changes I needed to make I wondered? Not changing and living in my normal was at least familiar doable and easy. But certainly, not satisfying or joyful.

Throughout my life, nothing ever stayed the same. Moves, divorces, financial insecurities and setbacks, addiction, recovery in my and my family's lives all led to what felt like never ending change. I learned to survive and my adaptability skills are probably stronger than most but what I had not learned was that I had the right to not only survive but to be cared for and loved as well. Eventually these desires led me into recovery and my journey to healing began.

I had faced a lot of change in my recovery over the years, worked on a lot of fears and bad habits, made it through enormous setbacks and restarts. I found a measure of peace, a quiet stability of sorts but what was still missing was joy. I still wasn’t sure, did I have a right to be happy, was I allowed to be joyful?

It is hard to adapt and change if you don't have a clear vision of what that change will look like and since I had no paradigm for what happiness and joy looked like to me, I had to create one. Once I could create this new model of living I desired, change just started happening all on its own. The happiness, joy and success that I never even really gave thought to before is now steadily making its way into my life.

My goal at Joyful Restoration is to help others find their peace, joy and success. Abundance is the promise of Jesus not lack, that's the enemy's promise. Many years ago when I first came to believe, a word was given to me that said:

“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, And praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; And My people shall never be put to shame.

Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the Lord your God And there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame." -Joel 2:25-27

For a time I thought maybe it was just a fantasy but now I realize God meant every word He said, the problem was never His word but my ability to receive. Here at Joyful Restoration I want to help you create the ability to receive the abundance God has for you. Together we will work to build the life you desire, face changes together and move from fear, lack luster and unhappiness to freedom peace and joy.