Let’s talk about change. Yes, the one thing that several people in this world can’t stand, including me. Well, about some things. Since I was little, I was obsessed with my routine (which really didn’t consist of doing more than watching cartoons and eating Lucky Charms). I would get super touchy about even the thought of something changing that I would act out for no apparent reason. Given, I may have been a 9-year-old who liked Courage the Cowardly Dog too much, but that isn’t the point. The point was that I was fearful of my perfect world being turned upside down.

It’s funny, because my entire life, change has made its appearance more times than I can count. It started with my parents’ divorce. There was a change. To go from being a seemingly happy unit and living in a big, cozy house to living with one parent and visiting the other on the weekends, well, that was daunting. What would happen to all the late night stories and homemade milkshakes? What about the numerous games of hide and seek? These were simple things that were gone like a candle’s flame from the wind, and who was I to stop it?

I smile because I know that change is supposed to be a “good thing”, and at times it is. Like when you get that dream job you’ve always wanted or when you find the person you were meant to be with. Those are good changes. Then there are the moves away from your hometown or divorces that make for a harder time. Life is full of both kinds of change, and sometimes it can feel like the entire world is either against you or for you, but either way, you aren’t in control at all, and that’s okay.

Hear me out. In my life, I found change inescapable and sometimes unbearable and at other times I welcomed it when in reality, I should have welcomed all of it with a tone of acceptance rather than resistance. No, we don’t want to go through issues and pain, but we do. No, we don’t always enjoy change, but it happens. It is here, then it is gone, and we are left with nothing but hope and quiet expectation for the what if. What if I don’t like this? What if they don’t like me? What if this is absolutely terrible? So, what if it is? What are you going to do about it? Pray, I hope one wouldn’t worry about such things. God knows I have spent my life worrying about every little thing I could think of when in reality it was absolutely stupid. There is a quiet trepidation in acceptance. The acknowledgment of what is to come without fear of the end result is something that most people have not yet acquired, but who is to say you can’t? I know I certainly hope that in the midst of my busy ever-changing life, I have to find quiet in the stillness and peace in knowing that no matter what happens, it is for a reason and it is well with my soul.