Jen and Leah's Blog

Embracing Change

If nothing ever changed,

there'd be no butterflies.

~Author Unknown

We love this quote! Think about it for a moment….if nothing (or no one) changed, the world would be filled with caterpillars, but not a single butterfly! It’s all about embracing and accepting change in our lives. Actually, change is one of the only things in our lives that is constant!
For many people, however, change is a scary thing! Fear of the unknown can be paralyzing! So paralyzing in fact, that it can stop people dead in their tracks! How many people do you know that would love to make some type of change in their lives (start a new career, leave an empty marriage, go back to school, move to a new state) but they don’t do it because they are scared of change?

Unfortunately, there are a lot of folks out there living their lives like this. We refer to these folks as caterpillars. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is nothing horrible about being a caterpillar! It’s just that by staying in the caterpillar mode, they never get to experience the beauty or the joy of truly spreading their colorful wings and blossoming into a butterfly!

The world has a place for both the butterfly and the caterpillar; however, it is a sad situation when the caterpillar has an opportunity to grow into the butterfly and chooses not do so because of fear.

One of today’s leading experts on embracing change is Ariane de Bonvoisin. She is an author, speaker, and Chief Change Optimist. She has a book entitled First 30 Days, and she talks about the nine principles of change. And while all nine Principles are empowering, we are particularly fond of her second principle. It simply states:
“People who successfully navigate change know that change always brings something positive into their lives. Every change has a gift associated with it. While it’s natural to find change hard it’s important to remember that there are two sides to every coin and that something positive will always come. This is by far the most important belief to have during the first thirty days of change.”

In essence, we believe what she is saying here really goes back to the quote we used at the beginning of this blog: If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.
So, what are you going to do in your life? Are you the caterpillar or the butterfly?

http://www.first30days.com/ariane/principles