Turning change into an adventure

I remember spending my childhood holidays at my mother’s office.

There is nothing permanent, except change.

There was a room full of desks, each one with a professional typewriter. It was the “Typists’ Room”. And I loved typing things – extremely important things, of course, on those modern machines. Years later, laptops arrived, and the profession disappeared. Fast forward 40 years, and we have Artificial Intelligence and other technological phenomena that are pushing us into ever more disruptive changes. Today’s changes are faster, more demanding, more complex… So much so that the World Economic Forum, in a projection for 2030, lists Adaptability as one of the intrapersonal skills expected to grow most in the workplace.

But change is not a new thing. Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, famously said around 600 B.C., “There is nothing permanent except change.” Buddhists speak of the Law of Impermanence, which holds that all life phenomena are in constant flux, emerging and dissolving in a perpetual state of becoming.

It has always been this way – and now, more than ever, change is part of life and a constant reality.

Yet change is not easy. Swapping the certain for the uncertain brings discomfort. Our brain doesn’t like uncertainty. When faced with situations where it can’t predict the outcome, it triggers survival mechanisms, activating fear and anxiety.

Try brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand, or, if you drive, imagine doing so with the steering wheel on the right, driving on the left-hand side of the road… just thinking about it feels uncomfortable. That’s what change is: uncomfortable. Swapping the familiar for the unknown, the automatic for the unfamiliar. It’s the well-known expression: “stepping out of your comfort zone.” Change is hard.

If you ask a group of people whether they want to change, many will say no. Ask the same group whether they want to improve, and the answers will be quite different.

But how can we improve without changing? Improvement requires change.

And how can we not change, if we want to achieve goals in life? If we want a new home? Children? A new professional experience? How can we not change, if we want to learn?

Whether we like it or not, change is necessary. So, if change is a constant, if it’s uncomfortable but necessary, how can we make it our ally? How can we turn it into something that excites rather than frightens us?

Something that teaches us, that deepens our self-awareness, that brings us sparkle and pride, that challenges and validates us, that helps us grow?

The answer is simple. Often, it’s just a matter of shifting our perspective. Choosing the right lens, one of possibility and hope. The lens that lets us believe in ourselves and in others. The one that sees change as a challenge to embrace, something that makes us come alive.

The answer is simple, but not simplistic. This perspective has to come from within. It must be genuine and self-driven. Letting go of fears, doing what we can. Holding on to what matters and releasing what no longer serves us. Giving it our best. The journey of change is an adventure. And it’s a wonderful one.