Embrace the Butterflies
Originally Published: Sep 10, 2014
Change is something that affects us all in a one way or another. Whether it is a new home, a new job, or a new family member, it is unavoidable. But, change is how we evolve, how we learn, and how we make ourselves stronger.
Today I move from a small town with rolling cornfields and a population of around 10,000 people to one of America's Top 5 Most Populated Cities, coming in at a whopping 1.556 million people.
Does this make me nervous? YES.
Not only am I one small fish in an ocean of other fishes, I am also a new fish. The new fish on the block that left the comforts of her home in her small town to experience a totally new ocean. So yes, this does make me uneasy, anxious, and nervous. It would make anyone feel this way and it is okay to be.
Buttttt... what if I told you ten years from now I would be ten years older but everything in my life would be exactly the same? I wouldn't have progressed in my schooling or my job. I wouldn't have gotten married. I wouldn't of watched my children or my friends' children grow. I wouldn't have conquered any goals, any fears, or experienced anything. I wouldn't have changed. So, why am I so afraid of it? That "it" being change.
When we commit to a change, it is so easy to interpret our unsettleness as unhappiness, because we think we have made an incorrect decision. Our mental and emotional states fluctuate uncontrollably when we make big changes in our lives. One day you will feel confident enough to cliff jump and the next day you may be so uneasy you cannot seem to get out of bed. That is normal, natural, and perfectly human.
What makes change easy to deal with is by remembering your safe havens still exist, your friends are still near, and your dreams can still become reality.
Mark Twain (I wish I could have met him), knew about change and he transcribed, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds. Explore. Dream. Discover."
This change is not only a learning opportunity for me, because I will be attending graduate school, but also a learning experience because I can explore the city, dream big, and discover how to ride the subway. I am embracing the anxiety, the nerves, the butterflies, because we cannot become what we want to be by remaining what we are. How do you think a butterfly becomes a butterfly? If it remained what it was, it would be a caterpillar.
Change in your life is good. If you don't believe me, sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together. Find joy in every chance for change, because it is your opportunity for adventure, your shot at an amazing experience, and your freedom to be you.
Who knows, that change that once scared you could be unbelievable. Your change could be the one that changed the world.
-Happiness in Handfulls
