when it is time for a change

If you're like me, you love your routines. You derive real pleasure from schedules, known quantities, and a neat calendar. And not only that, but when life gives a heave and comes down in a new direction, it makes you (read me) want to curl up in a little tiny armored ball and not come out until things look right again.

Oh, if only it were that easy!

I don't do change. It is difficult for me to accept it, hard to figure out it's place in my busy life. Daunting to adjust how I do things around something I wasn't prepared for in the first place. This is why I don't like surprises. I'm not good at them, I don't know how to react.

But there are times when all of a sudden, change is coming at you, for better or worse, and all you can do is decide whether to curl up like a pillbug and drown, or ride the wave. My natural instinct in this case is to be the pillbug. But I am learning to surf. Metaphorically. There's nowhere to surf in Ohio.

Anyway, while we've all been preparing for my 90 Day Challenge, there's been a little mini-earthquake happening in my life. The biggest, most significant change is that I recently became a girlfriend. Which means I have a boyfriend, which is definitely a change! On top of that, we sent my brother back to school this week, I am continuing to move, and I seem to have developed some weird allergies. All of that makes my poor little pillbug self really uncomfortable.

But it got me thinking. Sometimes, our lives feel really stagnant. Like we're trapped in who we are, trapped in the comforting cocoon of our routines. Like a Hamster running on a wheel, watching its reflection, and never moving. Stuck.

That's the way my life has been- swampy, a dead water source. I've been very comfortable with it, but that's because it has been very safe.  And when we get to a certain point with that, Life has a way of throwing something new in to teach us to adapt to it. Of shaking us awake, with a new job, a new boyfriend, or, if we're less lucky, a car accident, an unexpected death, or a medical issue.

Is it time for a change in your life? Time to do something just a little bit different? Just foreign enough to make you a little uncomfortable? Maybe you take a different route to work, or try a different brand of coffee. Maybe you wear that sweater that you bought on a whim but can't figure out now. Do something to change it up.
You'll thank yourself later.