Cut The Ties Keeping You From Smiling

Making change when it’s needed isn’t always easy. There are dozens of reasons we find ourselves “trapped” where we are without options to escape. It doesn’t make it impossible. It will make an escape route harder to see.

We all find change hard to handle, scary even, and yet it’s the thing that gives us new hope. At our lowest point, we need change. We even want change. So why do we fear change the rest of the time?

The fear of change attacks us the most when we’re happiest about our lives. So, if you’re thinking about change and are unsure how to cut the chains that keep you from moving forward, here are the suggestions that I’d give as someone who cut those chains.

Smart Ways To Make Changes To Your Life

Recognizing when changes are needed is an important part of managing your life. When you recognize change is needed you can assess what about life needs changed and why. Once you know what needs to be changed, it’s time to plan.

Planned changes. Planned changes, or tactical risk assessments, make a successful transition more likely. Once you accept you need to change and why, you can start to see what you need to return to a happier or more content existence. Preparing for a life-changing decision includes making sure you’re financially, socially, and morally ready.

Laying out a plan to change. If you wake up tomorrow and hate your job, hate it to the extent you’d rather dance naked with Lucifer at an all-demon orgy than go back to it, you’ve waited too long. Start exercising awareness, being more mindful of life, and spot those needs before they change from what you want to do to something of absolute necessity.

Research the other side. If you’ve ever heard the saying the grass is always greener on the other side, that’s because it is. It means that no matter how full of promise something is, nothing is perfect and you’ll see tough days after you’ve changed. This applies to new jobs, new cars, new banks, new businesses, and new romantic interests. Do your research, carefully considering the positives and negatives of a decision, before making major life changes.

Accept responsibility for your part of why things suck. If you’re thinking of changing something about your life, make sure you don’t take the same mindset into your new world that you used in the old. If you’re part of the problem in one environment, you’ll be part of the problem in others.

Develop positivity. We don’t decide to change many things that work. It’s usually because things aren’t working that we make leaps to the other side of the fence. By the time we get there, we’ve been through some negativity. Sometimes the negativity was a long-term condition. Don’t take that with you. People, including new bosses, friends, colleagues, or others are more attracted to positive mindsets.

Enjoy the changes you made. You worked to get to where you are, why not be happy about things? At the end of the day, we’re all responsible for finding contentment or happiness in our lives. When we make big life-changing decisions, we need to set out each day to enjoy our new life and remember it was our old lives that made us feel negative.

We should all be able to smile happily once in a while.

Final Thoughts

I sometimes grade myself in hindsight, and when I do I see the mistakes I made. Fortunately, I landed on my feet. Fear and apprehension held me back from making a positive change in my life for a very long time. Fear, apprehension, and being content with comfort.

When you get up every day and you have to go to a job that isn’t your ideal picture of the future, it can still become hard to change things once you have gotten comfortable with your environment. It’s even harder to change when you realize you’re above average or good at what you do.

Perhaps the prom queen and star quarterback turned sour at some point and that marriage isn’t what it used to be. Even the simple view of the road you’re on can change when things get too bumpy.

So, when you change, try to do it before it feels like jumping from a plane without a parachute. If you have to make a change, source out the problem, assess if it’s solvable, and take action to a solution that keeps you wanting to get out of bed in the morning. Change is an opportunity for growth and development as people, whether it’s us that needs to change, our environment, our associations, or our habits.

Ask yourself if there’s a chain around your ankle keeping you from going forward, and how do you cut the chain and free yourself? Then decide if you’re ready to make a change, and take action toward it becoming a reality. Your best you might still be waiting for you to catch up.