Change is in the Air

‘It’s not that things are difficult that we don’t dare;
it’s because we don’t dare that things are difficult.’

 -    Lucius Annaeus Seneca – Roman Philosopher

For many adults daring to take on the challenge of change takes great courage.  Even the smallest of changes are so easily put off.

When we were babies we were unaware of the obstacles of change.  We hadn’t learned yet the complex weight of if’s, what’s and buts that might stand in our way.  When a baby attempts to crawl it has the instinct to move and the curiosity to explore, so off it goes.  Its successive attempts to walk are the same.  The baby doesn’t have a seed of doubt that it can’t walk, so it tries, falls down, learns from its mistakes then tries again.  The baby gets lots of praise, encouragement and help during its attempts.

The baby grows in confidence then after many failed attempts it eventually walks unaided, never going back to not knowing how to walk ever again.  It may have a few more stumbles but after its first steps the baby has built up a belief in itself that it can walk which sustains it through the stumbles until it has full control over its gait.

All that prevents us from daring to change are the learned patterns and programmes from our past which hold us back as we tell ourselves:

-          We might fail miserably and lose any slight confidence we may have had

-          We might make ourselves look foolish if we don’t succeed

-          Because creating new patterns can be difficult, it is easier to procrastinate and avoid them

-          We have tried before and it didn’t work

-          We let others influence us who would rather we didn’t change

If you look at the odds that we stack against ourselves it is understandable that we put off our attempts to make change.

Eventually we fall back into our old routines dissatisfied, that even though we considered change, we weren’t willing to work at it long enough to achieve success.

If the changes you seek are down to bad habits and therefore detrimental to your physical or emotional health then surely they are worth the effort to keep attempting them.  Make this your year.

Spring will soon be upon us and there is no better time to attempt change than this time of year when everything in nature is changing and growing. 

The long term benefits of your efforts are bound to be worthwhile as you are already aware, and imagine one day looking back and wondering why you made it so hard on yourself for so long, instead of just doing it.

For one to one Skype coaching sessions contact Susan on susan@susanloveday.com or visit www.susanloveday.com for more information.