Changes

Each and every parent can somehow relate to change along with both the fear and joy it can bring us.
This time of year has always been a time of year that marks changes in my life. The start of a new school year has always been met with anxiety for me, first as a student and then as a parent – the butterflies in my tummy were present when I went to school, when I taught and now when my children start a new school year. Although so much fun, and so exciting I could never get rid of that lead feeling in the pit of my stomach. I know I’m not alone, there are many people out there that have a hard time dealing with change, and as parents we certainly do go through a lot of change with our little ones.
Change happens when we first find out we are pregnant/expecting. We begin to change our diet, change the activities we participate in, change our perspective on the future. Change continues when we have our baby, our family of two changes to a family of three (or more), our sleeping patterns change as we awaken with our baby, our habits change as we alter them to encompass a newborn.
As our children grow we experience more change, we go back to work and experience the change of bringing our children to daycare, our child begins school and we experience the change of putting them on a school bus.
Our children continue to grow and we experience the change of giving them more freedom towards making choices and decision until life changes again and our children are moving away to attend school.
As they get older and begin new stages and chapters in their lives, we experience change. Some of it is much harder to swallow than other changes.
Some of us accept change with arms open wide, excited to take on new adventures. Others cross our arms and push the change away hoping to distract or side track them from coming. Still others run in the other direction and close their eyes to hide from the coming changes.
Change can be scary. Change can be hard. Change can be great. Change can be rewarding. Sometimes the greatest changes and rewards in our lives happen when we take a leap of faith and change something in our lives. Whether we like it or not, change happens.
Coping with change is really in the eye of the beholder. With big changes happening in our household right now, I’m talking a lot with family and friends. Putting my fears into words helps me to let go of them, listening to other people’s perspectives helps me to find positive in the changes that we are going through. Taking the changes one day at a time is helping me get through them. And lastly, deep breaths and positive speech is really helping to go a long way in my day to day happenings. Before I know it, we will be going through a new change in our household and maybe I’ll be one step closer to accepting that change with wide open arms.
If you and yours are going through changes in your lives right now, or when new changes come in the future I hope my words and honesty help you out. We’ve all been there Momma!