Changing it Up: An Invitation to Explore Change

By: Caitlyn Brown

Change is one of the hardest things we experience in life. We are constantly riddled with situations that require a response from us. From an early age, we learn to adapt, to grow and hopefully, to thrive. These situations can be as small as adjusting to a change in schedule, to as large as going through a huge loss or life adjustment. However, these changes are significant regardless of the relative size.

Adaptation and flexibility are cornerstones for growth and progress. Our personal ability to adapt to difficult or new situations allows us to learn and further develop. Situations that are uncomfortable provide us an opportunity to grow personally and professionally. When faced with difficult situations, we have the chance to make decisions that will push us towards the person we are meant to be. Oftentimes, there is a heavy overlap between our adaptive abilities and our resiliency.

Growth is unavoidable physically and in most situations, developmentally. Understandably, we often view progress and growth as parallel processes, two things that exist simultaneously. Growth and Progress are not necessarily linear, nor are they concepts that can always be tracked. Our personal growth and progress may occur in response to difficulties and challenges, however, sometimes the changes within one’s self may not always be noticeable until we are faced with an even harder situation that we manage to handle in stride.

Thriving in difficulty requires adaptation and personal growth. Every difficult situation requires a response- we can adapt to the situation, grow in our ability to cope and learn, resulting in our ability to thrive and handle it successfully. Rigidity can cost us growth and an inability to grow prevents us from thriving and experiencing the most out of life.

Join the OneOp as we further explore how to THRIVE, GROW, and ADAPT to change at our Virtual Conference Learning through Change.  Check out our speakers, topics, and schedules and get registered here:  /2017virtualconference/.

This post was written by  Caitlyn Brown of the  OneOp Family Development Team. The Family Development team aims to support the development of professionals working with military families.  Find out more about OneOp Family Development team on our website, Facebook, and Twitter.