Accepting Change Gracefully to Fast Track Progress
There are two things concerning change that can guarantee you an unpleasant life for the rest of your days.
The first is being resistant to change, and the second is not knowing when change is needed.
Change is inevitable. Sometimes it’s circumstantial, and other times you initiate the change.
It may be easy to avoid the friction (resist change) or settle for things as they are, but it’s a cowardly way to live.
Hello, welcome to day 4 of my 100-day writing challenge. I present to you the second breakdown of my serenity prayer.
Read my first breakdown here:
The courage to change the things that I can
As I mentioned before, I am not religious, but I find the word courage well used in the serenity prayer.
It takes courage to accept that our world, or part of it, is not ideal and seek change or accept inevitable changes.
Paraphrasing a section of Atomic Habits by James Clear, we are wired to be lazy.
It’s in our nature to take the easy way out or find the least challenging way to carry out a task.
Change is daunting. It may be for the best, but it doesn’t mean it’s easy.
For our benefit, therefore, we should learn to embrace change and more importantly, know when it is time to initiate change.
Change occurs in all aspects of our lives. In our work, relationships, and even our own identities.
The good news is we don’t have to go with the hardest way out to reap the most benefits.
In his book, Atomic Habits, James Clear mentions that we can accomplish a lot while leaning into our ‘lazy’ nature. This is to say we can find simpler ways to do a hard task and still accomplish our objectives.
In the second breakdown of the serenity prayer, I want to show you how to accept change gracefully and make the most out of it.
1. Habits
Man is largely a creature of habit — Stanley Hall
Implement new habits that align with the change you desire while eliminating the old habits that no longer serve you.
This is one approach to gracefully accepting change into our lives.
There are many ways to build and break habits. The most incredible one arising from the power of atomic habits.
In his first chapter of Atomic Habits (which has become one of my favorite reads), James Clear illustrates how 1% progress every day goes a long way in getting you closer to your goal.
There are many easy ways to implement or eliminate habits, and the masterpiece Atomic Habits is home to most of them.
Read two of my articles illustrating how I built and improved my writing habits to increase productivity in my writing career:
4 Ways to Improve your Writing Habits From Atomic Habits
How to Make your Writing Habits Easier With These Tips from Atomic Habits
2. Limit your ego
In a different article, I illustrate how ego can be your worst enemy to progress.
Letting ego control you makes you overprotective of your identity, certain perspectives, ideologies, and beliefs. Everything outside this ideal world you create is often rejected without proper evaluation.
Doing this limits you because you believe you are only capable of certain things or competent in certain areas and are totally helpless outside the boundaries.
That is false. Despite always wanting the easy way out, we are very flexible.
When ego is lost, limit is lost. You become infinite, kind, and beautiful. — Yogi Bhajan.
Unfortunately, there’s not much I can offer to direct you into knowing when to initiate change.
Be mindful of everything going on around you.
Question the value of what you have. If you are content with it and absolutely nothing can make anything better, you’re alright. Maintain an open mind.
If you are not satisfied with what you have (your relationships, career, and other aspects), find ways to change it for the better.
Remember The serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
All the best in your adventures!
