Change is almost never fun, unless you are a Corning, Incorporated employee.  There, change is a lifestyle; it’s expected and its full of excitement and untrodden ground to explore.  That company, where I used to once live in my cubicle, is a place where inventions and new discoveries happen every day.  There, without change, the view would be the backsides of those who raced ahead of you.  There, you’re surrounded by leaders, engineers, scientists, physicists…the best of the best…in that world.  These people expect to change direction on a dime and rush full speed ahead in a new direction…and love it and be successful with whatever fomented the change.  It’s thrilling; it’s a rush; it’s a lifestyle.

I’ve found that in other places than Corning, change is exhausting;  but it’s all in how we approach it.  Change isn’t bad…what matters is how we respond to it.  What we cannot see when we either see change coming or are in the middle of it, is where we will end up, the sights we’ll see along the way, or the people we’ll meet along our new path.  Whether we elect change or not, matters not in the grand scheme of it.  What matters is the journey, the experience, how we respond.  What matters are the seeds we sow, because, after all, what we sow, we will surely reap.  I’ve lived long enough to see that over and over.

When it seems terrible, just hang on.  Just hang on and keep putting one foot in front of the other.  You’ll get through.  You’ll be different, but you’ll be fine, too.

Once you get past the trauma of change, if it is indeed traumatic, it’s almost fun to look back and see how THAT led to THIS.  I sometimes wonder exactly what the heck happened in my life to land me here…and how I could have been so ignorant of what was happening in what I thought was my life… but of this I am sure: Here is much better than there and I wouldn’t trade the people I now have in my life BECAUSE of the change, for the ones I had before the change. I like it like it is now.  Sometimes terrible times make the good ones so much nicer. 

I have met some of the worst people of my life, and I have met some of the best, in the course of this most recent life change.  I have seen both the best and the worst of both myself and others along this journey.  What happens now is that I get to experience the excitement of a new life. I get to get back to being me, to being happy, to laughing again.  I used to laugh a lot; I find myself doing that again.  It feels pretty good!  And  I get to use my experience and the wisdom I gained to help others who find themselves on the same journey.  What better way to go through life than to reach out to others and lend a hand?  I can’t think of one.

Don’t look back unless it’s to take the hand of someone you’re helping along.  Look ahead and embrace the new life.  Have faith that it will be better and that you will have wonderful experiences and new friends with whom to share them.  Throw out the bad  memories with the other junk and look ahead to a better life!