When too much happens at once: dealing with change

As a rule, I’m not good with change. Also me: I crave change. Otherwise, I become lazy or stagnant. Change is enlivening—bolstering me with energy. But when too much change happens at once, it paralyzes me. Not physically, but mentally it can cripple my response time and my ability to think clearly or rationally. Coinciding with our major move to Northern Arizona last spring, my husband and I were dealing with changes in healthcare, plans to downsize from two to one vehicle (as well as 400 square feet of living space), unloading most of our worldly possessions, and transitioning from familiar surroundings where we lived for 22 years to a remote town with a population hovering around 600 and surrounded by national forest. Plus, I’d also retired from my full-time job to pursue my writing dreams. So. Much. Change. How did we cope? For us it meant focusing on urgent priorities, and then minimizing, staggering or holding off on the remainder.

How do you deal with change?

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash.