Using Change as a Tool for Positive Growth

Humans are designed to seek out challenges…

According to the experts, there are 3 types of fear: fear of failure, fear of success, and fear of change. Can you relate to any of these?

Studies indicate the greatest fear of these is the fear of change. I have limited experience with this, but I believe that this fear has the greatest potential for helping us grow.

When I was in my 20’s I was practically fearless and full of confidence. I knew I would find work. I knew I would have enough of what I needed. Life was a breeze and, every day, I knew the next day was filled with opportunity. All this and, financially, I lived month to month.

These days, when I contemplate the idea of leaving my job to focus on my creative life, I’ve discovered how much I have changed as a person.

Money and success give us material security. But sometimes the price we pay is losing our confidence and self-assurance. What we accumulate in material terms is easily lost.

So I proceed with caution and keep working on growing my writing portfolio. I write daily in the early mornings and sometimes at night, also on my days off and weekends. It seems that my energy does not stop when it comes to writing.

I know that to give up a regular and steady job requires that I have a reasonably good chance of making money as a writer. I understand this stage of the game is fashionably referred to as a “side hustle”. Every passing day it seems more like a race against time. And this time, the stakes seem very high.

Maybe the job will dwindle away and my writing business will grow. I’m entirely sure that the financial rewards of writing are unlikely to come close my job earnings. But I know I will look forward to each day.

The story ideas never seem to dry up. Fiction ideas, non-fiction ideas, a book and many other exciting things keep popping up. What is the value of these things? Priceless, but not in the financial sense. Will I want to go back to what I was doing before? Most likely not.

But the fear of change keeps coming back. I have to accept that as I get older; I am unlikely to return to that fearless state of mind I had in my 20's.

I have to learn to manage fear by taking positive action. I have to remain busy doing the things that keep the doubts out of my mind. I have to take positive steps like getting to work each day. Writing. Reading. Photography. Adventure Travel.

I will do whatever I need to do to make this change in my life one of growth. Stopping equals dying. While I still have a breath in me, I will keep on creating and writing.

I’m sure that I could remain at a desk doing paperwork. I would be secure due to a routine far from change. But I also know that life will spring a few surprises anyway.

I realize that I fool myself thinking that I can keep change at bay. I can always take the path of least resistance and risk regret. Despite the fear, I need to work on my writing and keep a firm grip on the mind games that bring up those fears.

I need to let fear be my guide and not my master. Sometimes, what I fear is what I need to do, because humans are designed to seek out challenges.

It is the secret sauce that makes life taste good.