We’ve all experienced pain and discomfort when life brings sudden change. This can come with loss of a situation or person, or it could simply be the need to let go of the past and move into something new.

Change comes in many forms. If you’re going through a shift in your life, letting go of what you know can be challenging, and so there’s a good chance you’re resisting taking that first step towards a new situation.

While change can often be scary, it is a necessary and inevitable part of life.

Here are our best tips on how to deal with change, and even turn it into a positive force in your life.

1. Accept That Change is a Part of Life

This is probably the hardest, yet most necessary step.

Accept that life will always be changing. It’s the one true thing you can depend on above all else.

For most of us, our comfortable life in high school turned upside down when we graduated. We were exposed to an entire new world, and many of us didn’t know where to head. As we grew older, loved ones pass away and the people in our lives sometimes spread out in different directions.

This is an example of the kind of change almost everyone goes through.

Think about who you were a year ago. Do you value the same things? Do you have the same goals? What we value in life changes as we grow, and thus we hold a different outlook on the world.

There are and will be plenty more examples throughout your life. The most important place to start is to accept that you, and everything around you, are going to change with time. Be sure to feel through it. In such times, it isn’t that change itself we are afraid of, but more the underlying emotion behind it.

Do you feel powerless when things are changing?

Are you afraid of all the things that could go wrong?

Is your happiness tied to situations and people in your life that you’re afraid of losing?

Take some deep breaths and accept the emotion, however negative it may seem. Our emotions are only there as a guideline for us, a message from the body. Resisting emotions only cause them to persist.

Appreciate the message, focus your mind on what you want, and move into the new situation.

Accepting all parts of yourself will help you overcome that resistance to change.

2. Don’t Get Too Comfortable

The most devastating change seems to strike when we are content or comfortable. While life will always keep you on your toes no matter what, it’s usually when you’re holding on to things that they begin to slip through your fingers.

We hold on to what we have, and in fighting change, it usually bulldozes us over in the process.

You should always be ready for anything that comes your way. When you are comfortable in your situation, you let your guard down, which only makes it more of a shock when something does change.

If you stay aware that change is coming, and focus on accepting and making the most of change, you will keep expanding that comfort zone until you are living life as your truest self.

3. Talk About Your Feelings Towards Change

People tend to let things build up inside. They don’t talk about their situations, or if they do, they don’t talk to the right people.

If the changes are in the workplace, for instance, consider talking to your manager about the impact of those changes. If your changes involve your partner, sit down together and discuss how it affects you both.

Try not to flare up your upset; soothe yourself so that you can remain clear-headed.

While we often fear change, remember that others may be dealing with the same problems that we are. Beyond yourself, accept that others may need a shoulder to lean on regarding their own changing lives.

4. Try to Turn the Change in Your Favor

At the risk of venturing into cliché territory, we want to invoke a common saying that most people ignore the implications of.

The phrase “turn lemons into lemonade” has widely been overused. However, when you think about it, it’s hard to deny that it’s good advice for sour times (this will be the one and only pun in this article, we promise).

If you are dealing with change, in one form or another, see what angles you can use to make it work to your benefit.

The most successful people can take failure and turn it into positive momentum, so what’s to say you can’t focus on the most positive aspects of change? Ask yourself: what could I learn from this?

What opportunities can come out of this?

How can I use this to grow?

If you can turn even the seemingly worst changes into a positive, you will be one step closer to achieving the life you deserve.

5. Apply Change Gradually

If you try to enact too many changes at once, it may overwhelm not only you, but the other people who are affected by them.

People need time to absorb those changes and incorporate them into their lives. If you bombard them with a bunch of changes to who you are and how you act, they will likely rebel in an attempt to hold onto the ‘real’ you, and you will be left picking up the pieces.

Sometimes, the changes you put into place can’t be helped. Life can thrust them upon you at a moment’s notice. But when you do have control over them, try to introduce them slowly over time.

Keep in mind how those close to you might perceive of your ever-changing life.

6. Join Support Groups

Some changes are difficult to make sense of when they happen, or severe enough that you need the support of others. This can happen when death strikes, or with some long-term illness, or with attempting to give up on addiction.

Seek out the help of others who are going through similar circumstances as you are. Knowing that you are not alone can help soothe you into accepting change, and finding a silver lining that can help you cope.

7. Trust Your Instincts

People may be forced into situations or decisions that go against what they believe in. If you find yourself in such a situation, it’s best to go with your gut and trust your instincts.

If the change doesn’t feel right and you have no power to counter it, try to remove yourself from the situation if you feel strongly about it.

Your gut is a powerful tool: don’t be afraid to listen to it.

8. Change Can Lead to Unforeseen Opportunities

This goes in line a bit with the lemonade from lemons, but when you start to focus on change as a force of good in your life, opportunities will be more open to you.

They have a way of finding you. These opportunities may not have presented themselves had the changes not occurred. Grasp what you can of these opportunities.

It’s often when you are outside of your comfort zone that you grow the most.

Change is often a scary and inevitable part of life. But by being aware of the underlying emotions driving our fear, looking for positive outcomes and by finding the opportunities in change, we can overcome that resistance and make change an important and positive force in our lives.

Speaking of change as a positive force…

If you’re looking to explore other areas of change such as numerology, manfifestation, rhythmic cycles, and how they’re intricately connected in the universe, then check out this free presentation from BioRhythm.

Not everyone approaches their self development the same way. For those who want to delve deeper into the unexplored territory to shift their perspective into something new, then be sure to check it out!

Otherwise we hope you enjoyed the article. Feel free to browse our other articles for more self-development content!