Change: What Is It?

It’s a six-letter word, both a noun and a verb, and an idea that either scares you or thrills you.

Whether you thrive in new situations or you try to avoid them at all costs, you must try to get comfortable with the concept of change—because it’s not going away any time soon.

Better yet, you should get to a point where you understand HOW to change your life gracefully and strategically.

By definition, change means the act or instance of making or becoming different.

If you’re thinking, “That seems pretty hard to define,” you’re right.

By its very nature, change is hard to characterize because change is always changing.

That’s mind-blowing, right?

This is exactly why so many people fear change—it’s the unknown, and most humans aren’t comfortable with the unknown.

In the context of your life, change is broken down into different stages.

It isn’t instantaneous, nor is it experienced the same way for every person, so to understand what it means to you, let’s look at the five stages of experiencing change:

1. Pre-contemplation—In the first stage of changing or pivoting your life, you’re in denial. You don’t think you need to make a change, or you’re not really prepared to make one yet.
2. Contemplation—This stage is when you decide something needs to change. You may not necessarily be ready for the change, but you know something needs to be different. More times than not, the contemplation stage is when you realize you will need to take on this challenge on your own.
3. Preparation—At this point, you’ve not only acknowledged that you want to make a change, but you’ve also decided that you will. You may not have a game plan for how you will make these changes, but you are committed to the pivot.
4. Action—This is the exciting stage when you’re starting to put things into high gear. You’re making changes and taking action to ensure that your life is pivoting. You’re on the path to success!
5. Maintenance—This stage is often underappreciated, but it’s critical to the success of your new lifestyle. In order to keep things afloat, you need to keep up with the changes you’ve implemented in your life. You may experience some setbacks, and that’s okay. The important thing is that you keep tracking with your goals and the changes you’ve implemented in your life.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by looking at these stages, don’t worry.

Everything has a process in life, and change is no different.

Making a pivot in your life doesn’t mean you need to follow a strict process.

The stages above are simply listed so that you understand that you shouldn’t expect a significant life pivot to happen immediately.

You’ll be able to relate to these steps and better understand what your mind is going through as you pivot your life.

If you need help as you Pivot, reach out to me HERE