Fear of Change

Yesterday, I kept finding myself in conversations where people were weaving stories about what something might mean or what could happen. In each case, they seemed to be focused on the worst possible outcome.

In a few instances, their stories were proved wrong hours later.

I was talking to an older woman concerned her position at work would be eliminated. I remember saying something like, “I’ve lived long enough to know that things always seem to work out somehow. Days, weeks, or years later, we realize whatever happened was exactly what needed to happen at that time.”

She stopped for a moment and looked at me. Then a tension seemed to release a bit and she smiled and laughed. “That is true,” she said.

Something shifts inside when we remember there is nothing to truly fear. We fear change, but fear points us to the gateway of something new. When we remember that, just like the older woman did in that moment, fear loses its sting.

That’s not to say there isn’t loss or pain in our lives. The nature of change means something old must fall away for something new to grow in its place. For there to be new births, there must be old deaths. It’s up to us where we put our focus.

And yet, I’ve spent so many moments in my own life wanting to change, only to grip tightly to what was familiar. Gripped in fear by the very thing that would lead to the change I was seeking.