Adapting To The Winds Of Change

An especially difficult process in mental illness

We aren’t always a fan of change. However change is something we are all forced to adapt to, because we will face change throughout our lives, whether we want to or not. Change can represent many parts of a spectrum to accepting the awkward empty feeling of a lost job or career can hit you with, to a totally opposite type of change that may give some butterflies in our stomachs but in other words is a nice type of change like being newly married.

Change seems to be perceived and shown as a necessary evil. Now I have often been on the fence about that theory, because I personally do believe that getting comfortable into an old routine, habit, or place is certainly not always a bad thing.

I have plenty of things in my life that I would never want any change to interfere with, and for many of them, it’s not an unhealthy desire. We hear all throughout our lives about how we have to be flexible for change in this world, and we have to accept it, we have to evolve, we have to adapt, and so on and so forth.

Some change is absolutely necessary. Even for survival. But even when we have strong negative effects from something, even the change from walking away from what’s toxic is just another change that we bump our heads against.

I can remember, with the horrific health effects of drugs, one of the even harder issues with getting to a point of sobriety from a nasty addiction to opioids was all the heavy duty changes that are involved.

Changes that go way beyond an act of using a drug and stopping a drug. That’s when it can be frustrating when someone tells an addict “just stop, all you have to do is stop.” Of course, stopping is not easy, and even when an addict stops, they are still have another 98% of work to do, before getting to a place of at peace in recovery.

Immense changes like ceasing drug or alcohol abuse involve many layers. Whether it’s the stopping of the abuse, the adaption for change when it comes to having to change the way we feel, change our unhealthy ways and the changing of any part of us that has had ill effects. Getting used to the change to our day to day lives. What were once days and nights only surrounded by drinking and drugging, now has us stuck with entire days of spare time. And even more difficult, is the change that comes from being forced to feel again, after numbing ourselves for so so long.

So as we can see, change isn’t always something easy that we simply have to go and get over. Change represents some of life’s most difficult journeys. And sticking with necessary changes over a period of time can be even more complex.

So where do we stand on change? Well, as grown ups we have to accept the fact that change can be inevitable. Often times it is that change that will lead us to something better anyway. Just because great things aren’t just being handed over to us in ways that are like instant gratification, doesn’t mean we won’t find good things after working hard and putting effort into getting through the winds of change.

Change can bring us to points that are much more peaceful, and much more beautiful. Whether it’s a change of scenery to deal with stress, or it’s losing weight, to find ourselves better health, change usually isn’t an overnight process. And that’s okay. It doesn’t mean we won’t be successful.

Walk into change with an open mind, and a head held high. Be willing to learn, and be willing to accept struggles along the way.

That walk through those winds of change, is an experience we all face.

Written by MICHAEL PATANELLA