Life has a funny way of taking us through different changes. Certain seasons of life can be more overwhelming than others. I personally love change, so initially it seems great, but after some time it usually hits me and can be difficult.

I remember in 2014, I went from being a college student, who was use to taking class after class, test after test, and late night cramming, for YEARS. Then, all of a sudden those days are all over when I graduated and the job hunting began. Then a few short months after that, I became a wife, which meant I left my roommates I had, to live with my husband. All the while, still adjusting to a new church community I entered into a few months before. The only thing that stayed the same for about a year was my job at the nursing home, and even though I loved my patients, I couldn’t wait to find a job that would put my degree to use.

As hard as all of these changes were, the greatest life skill I had developed over the years was the ability to ADAPT. Adaptability is crucial when dealing with the different changes in life. When we don’t adapt to what is going on around us, we will become discontent, depressed, and unsatisfied with the season of life we are in. New seasons come, and the key to being happy amongst all of the change is being able to accept the fact that your life won’t be the same as before. Even though things won’t be the same, you can find the good and allow that to be your focus.

Look at Netflix, which originally started as place where people could get DVD’s delivered to their home, but online streaming became more prevalent so they changed the way they did business. Netflix is highly successful and very popular now, they ADAPTED to the change in internet usage. Block Buster on the other hand did not adapt and rework its way of doing business to the needs of the people/times and unfortunately it has been declining.

Instead of looking back on how your life use to be or how you did things before, learn to modify and adjust to what your life is like NOW. So many different seasons will come in your life and you don’t want to go through any of them grudgingly. I know I sure don’t! There are many blessings in each season of life, but sometimes it’s hard to see them when we are too focused on how things use to be or what we can’t do anymore.

As a new parent, I realize that my time is not my own anymore. Time I use to have to myself to do the things I enjoyed or wanted to work on just isn’t there like it use to.  I still can do some of those things, but ultimately I have had to learn to ADAPT. I can’t go to the gym for 3 hours anymore, but I can however work out in my living room while my daughter plays around me or while she is napping. I’ll never get this time back with her at this age and I could waste it complaining about how I can’t go to the gym like I use to OR I can embrace this blessing I have been given, as so many people would love to have a child. Yes, it is hard adjusting at times, but you have to, it is the only way to remain happy and content through out life.

Also, adapting is the key to embracing new changes, but know that everyone has their own threshold of adjustment. People have different capacities of what they are able to handle, so its important NOT to COMPARE yourself to others. A lot of our discontentment with our lives is because we are comparing ourselves to others. For example, you would have been proud of yourself if we were able to get just a 20minute work out in, a shower, with the kids fed and dressed for school in the morning, but then when you saw “Sally” was able to make her kids breakfast fresh from her garden, do a 2 hour work out, and packed her kids healthy, nicely labeled, lunches, somehow you became dissatisfied.

Social media is a big culprit of comparison, being the “thief of all joy,” leaving people more discontent than ever. We use to not know what anyone was doing unless they told us or we saw them physically in person. I do miss those days! Ultimately, be present, enjoy where you are in life right now. We only get one opportunity to enjoy today, before today turns into yesterday.

Much Joy,

Charity HOPE

(If you can relate, feel free to leave a comment below!)