The One Thing You Can Rely On

Change. Uncertainty.

We do many things to resist them and avoid them. Yet they keep happening.

Living on a large piece of property out in the wilderness has given me a unique perspective on change… a very “in your face” perspective.

You see, every day we take walks and do projects on the land. And every day, we witness the environment changing.

The other day, my daughter and I took a walk to the spring to see if all the tadpoles we had witnessed a few weeks ago were now jumping around as frogs. We only saw a couple big frogs near the water, but baby horny toads were everywhere on the dirt paths. The summer wildflowers were replaced by fall asters. The grass had transformed into four feet tall, dry spears. The warm but dry wind heralding fall made the aspens quake and bend.

Staring down at one of our creek beds, now dry and rocky, I thought about this past spring. For a second, I had a twinge of longing sadness about how abundant and green everything was just a few months ago. Then I remembered.

Change. Uncertainty.

They are always with us.

Why do I bring this up? Because it’s at the cornerstone of designing your authentic work-life balance with confidence: you must accept change and allow uncertainty. Security and certainty are basic human needs, but they can hold us back from leaning out and taking the steps required to taking the different path we’re desiring.

Don’t get me wrong, certainty feels good! So how can we learn to accept change and uncertainty such that we can grow as needed? Here are a few thoughts:

1. Try listing things in your life that are certain. These include your values and your particular truths. If you haven’t done my Values exercise, go right now over to the Get In Touch tab on my website and sign up to immediately receive it!
2. Observe the mundane, everyday things in your life that change on a dime. This might include the weather, your environment, or even your children. This will help normalize and diffuse change and uncertainty in your mind. If you have a child that grows like my 7 year old does, you’re witnessing change every few months! It seems like every time I look at her, her clothes are shorter. It’s a beautiful change to witness, actually.
3. Along with number 2, get in the habit of noticing changes around you by cultivating a regular practice mindfulness. I shared some easy ways to get more mindfulness in this article from a couple years ago.
4. Remember the costs of inaction, of leaning on certainty and missing out on opportunities you could be taking.

I hope these tips are inspiring and helpful.

(If you’d prefer to listen to this post, you can hear the podcast version of it here.)

How do you deal with change and uncertainty? What are your go-to practices? Leave a comment to share them below!