Accepting Change

This past week for some reason I have found myself in the position of embracing and supporting change.  Perhaps that is because it has been on the horizon, happening for several that have been very close to me, those that I lead and I feel that it may be necessary to think about and embrace the power of this change for myself.
When I think about last week, I was involved, lived for and my life revolved around being able to give back to my local community, supporting anything and everything in my community where I found a way to be something greater than myself.  Recently learning for myself that giving back was part of what was necessary to help overshadow by the change that surrounded me now.

Because my life seems to have been all about new beginnings over the past few months and unexpected change for a little over a year now, I found myself not able to really take in the importance of the powerful moment of giving back to my community.  I have also not able to wrap myself completely around the the change that engulfs the present moments in time around me.
I believe part of what has kept me from taking in the moment for myself is that I have been needed to ensure that these moments were successful for others, no matter what the end result might be for me or those around me.  Whether that is because I needed to support these new beginnings or change for those going through them this week, those that would be directly affected by it, to be part of the change necessary, as we became something bigger that ourselves by giving back to our communities, or that I played a necessary role as a leader in providing education and in establishing relationships for my local professional association, the pressure of new change has been all around me.

It became clear to me that sudden change can directly impact future moments in time for others, cause undue stress for those left behind, including intense pressure of how to get through to the next day for ourselves and for those around us.  I have learned over the past two weeks that it is how we accept it, introduce it and embrace it that will make all the difference in the world, allow us to keep pace with our responsibilities, those undone responsibilities left for us to do and to ensure not only for ourselves but for those we lead and the ones left behind that tomorrow will be okay.  I have certainly learned that any change, even change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts
too.

No matter what the change, I will not allow it to get in the way of the goodness that we have done to support our community, what I need to do to support the needs and be a constant for the others in my life (personal or business) and what I may personally need in order to improve upon myself.

I am reminded of a beautiful quote by Reinhold Niebuhr, which says; "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.