Endings and Beginnings My daughter Robyn Hughes, is about to start her last day at Royal Roads University and I have been invited to watch the soon-to-graduate students' end of year presentations. On Wednesday her life will be different. No more classes, no more team meetings, no more assignments and no more late night crunches to get an important project in her profs hands by the deadline. Wednesday will be the beginning of a brand new chapter filled with cover letters, resume updates, interviews and hopefully a rewarding and satisfying new career will be started. As I ponder on my daughter's experience I am reminded of how we all have to cope with change in our lives. Some of those changes may have been self-initiated, leading us forward to new careers, new cities and new employers, while others may have been thrust upon us, caught us off guard, maybe even created a serious jolt to our well-ordered lives. But you've heard it before...change is the only real constant in our lives so I say, the sooner we all come to terms with it the better. Some people (me included) enjoy change. We thrive on absorbing something new, meeting new people, taking on new projects, saying goodbye to work that's no longer stimulating and drawing out our best skills. Change that's self-initiated is, to some extent under our control and we can chart the path we want to follow, even though there might be some nasty surprises we could not have anticipated. (read about that in my latest book "Living in Paradise".) But what about the change that's thrust upon us - the change that leaps out and grabs you by the ankles and threatens to roll you in the dust. That's the change that call for courage, tenacity and reserves stored from the past. Its the unanticipated shift from our well planned life that threatens and needs to be managed. I find that when I am faced with some change I find unpleasant and distasteful it's best to ponder on past changes I viewed in the same light and to reflect on whether in hindsight they were really as bad as I thought they were going to be. In most cases what I had anticipated as a negative soon became a positive - once I allowed myself time to adapt. That's when emotions surface and most often 'fear' kicks in to dominate our minds. Thoughts rush through our heads and the worries start to surface. "Will I be able to cope?" "Will the new boss appreciate my work?" "Will the new project show up my weaknesses?" "How can I get out of this?" Looking back helps. really. Trust me on this. Try this technique. I give myself a 'pep' talk when I step out of the shower in the morning. I look in the mirror and say to myself. "Hello champion of surviving and thriving on change. Look at what you have done so far. You are ready to take this on. Go get 'em gal!" When I look back at past challenges and reflect on who I am today I know that the skills and talents I bring to my clients now are because I learned much from the changes both planned and unanticipated, positive and negative, swift and long drawn out. Each change added to my character and helped me become the Management Consultant I am today - far better able to help organizations and their employees deal with changes they need to make in order to be successful. Want to read my book 'Living in Paradise'? Email me at heatherconsults@shaw.ca to get a signed copy.