if nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies
Stuff! Stuff everywhere! It’s moving week, and I’m not a huge fan of change.
As the story goes, when I attended preschool, it came time to transition from pre-K to kindergarten and I did not handle myself with grace and kindness.
Back then, when a child was acting out the teachers would give the child a bear hug from behind to help calm them down. Here comes five-year-old Lucy acting out because she had to switch schools, make new friends, adopt a new routine, and get used to new teachers – all in the same week! So I kind of freaked out.
The caring and brave teacher comes up and gives me a bear hug from behind, wrapping her arms around my arms and body with the hope of calming me down. Instead, this seemed to make matters worse so I bit the teacher. My mom will confirm I was not regularly biting people. Needless to say, this story goes down in history as a preliminary example of how I handle change.
I am proud to report that I have not bitten anyone all week! Below you’ll find some ideas for your own well-balanced transition back into the school year.
Strategies for Managing Change and Getting Back into a Groove:
- Put first things first. In a move, our family’s rule of thumb is to unpack the kitchen, the bathroom, and the bedroom first. When you have food to eat, a place to wash up, a bed to sleep and clothes on your back you are okay. If you aren’t unpacking but still in midst of a change, consider focusing on keeping these areas tidy and ready for your new routine.
- Ease back into it. When starting a new routine, consider doing a few practice rounds of going to bed earlier, packing lunches the night before and taking those 5-10 minutes of meditation or prayer time during the day to center yourself.
- Practice gratitude. In times of change I often start to feel a “not wanting” sensation – not wanting to unpack boxes, not wanting to deal with the change of address situation, etc. This is the mind’s natural tendency to resist change. Whenever I noticed this coming over me I stop and think of 5 things I’m grateful for.
- Don’t forget the magical power of list making to keep you on track. From my awesome brother-in-law, Jamie “Wunderlist is good for general list keeping. We share a couple of lists like the Home Depot and pre-vacation list.We use AnyList for food shopping. It lets you keep a list of favorites for quick staples shopping and you can create recipe lists which allow you to add all items for a specific dish. And it will put stuff into categories like Produce, Frozen, Meat, Canned Goods, etc.”
Food for thought:
The only constant in life is change.
Whether it’s a change by your design or by a greater power, let us view these as opportunities to reset and become more well-balanced.
