Sometimes change, whether expected or unexpected, can be a very difficult trial. How can we learn to deal with it?
Change is an inevitable part of life. Whether we’re starting college, going on a mission, graduating and starting a career, or getting married, change can be difficult to handle. Sometimes all we want to do when presented with change is hide away and pretend the change isn’t happening—but we can’t do that. While change can be scary, it is how we progress in life. So, with all these big changes happening in our lives, how can we learn to deal with them?
Elder Steven E. Snow of the First Quorum of the Seventy answers this question in “Get On with Our Lives.” He gives four simple ways rooted in the gospel that can help us deal with frightening or difficult changes:
- Follow the prophets. The leaders of the Church “help us weather the storms of life.” By listening to their counsel, we may know that the change we are embarking on is right.
- Keep an eternal perspective. Change is part of God’s plan for us. We need change to progress in our eternal journey. Changes and trials are there to test us and help us grow.
- Have faith. Sometimes it can be hard to stay faithful when we live in a world full of negativity, fear, and doubt. Keeping our faith will help us eliminate any doubts we might have because “faith and doubt cannot exist within the same mind at the same time.”
- Be of good cheer. Although at times change makes us want to be negative and sad, we must try our hardest to be positive and cheerful.
If we follow these simple guidelines, we will find it much easier to overcome the fear of change.
Read or watch Elder Steven E. Snow’s talk “Get On with Our Lives.”
Source: LDS General Conference
—Amy Davis, Mormon Insights
Find more insights
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Read life coach Terri Babers’s opinion on dealing positively with change in “How to Deal with Change.”
Thanks for this post! I feel like I have been dragging my feet about many parts of life because I don’t want any of them to change. But I know it’s really not that I don’t want things to change. I think it’s more that I don’t feel prepared for everything to be different. But it’s helpful to know that we can stay on the path and feel good about change.
I always thought that I loved change. I have often found myself wishing for change in my life, such as a career change, a change of colleges, or a change in living situation. However, now that I am looking towards graduating from college, I find that I am terrified of this huge change coming up in my life. My entire safety net and life will be uprooted, and I will have several changes happening at once: I need to find a new home, a new job, and a new social life. This article spoke to me. Thank you for writing it! It’s great to get advice from the leaders of the church to help me navigate this pivotal moment in my life.
I am someone who has moved multiple times in my life and has often adapted to new situations. Although I encounter a new school, social circle, church building, town, and neighbors, the one constant that remains is the gospel. I still live by the same principles, the Sunday School lesson is still from whatever manual we are studying that year, and I can find friends who share my values. Even when changes are less physical and more emotional, I know that every day I need to read my scriptures, say my prayers, and find ways to serve others. The gospel is a great comfort in my life because it is steady and sure; a refuge from the storm.
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