Change is inevitable. It happens all around us, every day, and we lack the power to stop it from occurring. Whether it be a small change, or one that completely alters your life, we all experience it. Change takes form in many different measures: in our family, our friends, ourselves, and our circumstances.

People change all the time. We realize that some people can transform into a completely new person you never knew. One moment they are the most important person in your life, then a stranger in the blink of an eye. This could be a result of a change in the person they were, the person you are, or a shift in the relationship itself.

Nothing is set in stone. Situations occur that force people to change: to become stronger, wiser, or more independent. Sometimes, we don't want things to change. We become used to routine, the normality of things. When change knocks on our door, many of us are prone to slamming it shut and hiding behind the curtains in order to avoid it.

Although change is inevitable, I can affirm that many of us hate change, including myself. I love consistency -- knowing that things are in order, that I have friends that I love, a boyfriend who I adore, and family back at home that I can go to for anything. That makes me comfortable. When those things are compromised by change, all hell breaks loose. The people you are involved with can hurt you or leave you. This is the change you have no control over. You can change who you are, how you perceive things, but you cannot change someone's perception, actions, or decisions. And as much as I wish I could embrace change blatantly, it is a constant struggle and fear of mine.

So how can we begin to not fear change?

We can start by blocking out the idea that we have the power to control every situation, because we don't. We can tell people what we want them to do all we want and dictate them to stay with us, never leave, or do this and that. But ultimately, people live their own lives and we have no control over the changes they decide to make that could potentially affect us.

All we can do is have hope that in spite of change, we will see the light at the end of the tunnel. Because for every bad thing, something good will always emerge, but not always in a physical form. A rough moment of change can occur in our lives that can cause us to gain new perspectives on life. With that, we can begin to better ourselves and maybe even change ourselves and take a new path in life.

We can't be fearful of change. People come and go. Experience can sculpt new emotions and actions, and we must deal with it when it comes to us. We cannot live in fear of change, because life requires things to constantly change. Routine is good but gets old. Imagine a world where everything remained stagnant, and nothing new or extraordinary happened in our lives. Instead, we lived the same way, with the same people, doing and talking about the same things. No progress would be made.

Ultimately, when we accept change, we accept room for progress in our lives. The more you focus on the positive side effects of change, the easier it will become to embrace that change and love it for what it is.