Assimilation and Change – What’s possible?

For most of the East Coast, today was a huge day for celebration.  The temperatures shifted (especially in Vermont) from -20℉ to 20℉. (That is 40 degrees, people!) After 15 days of bitter cold, it suddenly felt warm. Yesterday, it was rumored to be colder in some places on Earth than it was on the planet Mars…you know, the planet that is known for its COLD weather? Yes, we beat its temperature low by at least 20 degrees. That is cold. But seriously, we celebrated 20℉ today?

Uhm, 20℉ is cold, there is no way around it, but feels warm compared to what we had been experiencing. This perception made me think about how human beings can assimilate much easier to change and discomfort than we think we can. It took us only 15 days to become acclimatized to below-zero weather. It was not until the brutal weather lifted that we realized how, although it wasn’t easy or comfortable, we got used to feeling a certain way: COLD. We didn’t love it, but we got used to it.
What else can we get used to faster and with less discomfort than we imagine?

Job change that might require a slight salary decline, but that offers more fulfilment? Leaving a relationship that is not serving you anymore, but you feel too scared to be alone? Starting a business based on your passions, but being so unsure where to even start, you are paralyzed? Change often brings discomfort. But discomfort is not death. Discomfort is short lived when you keep moving forward through the change. When we try to anticipate the discomfort of change, we often underestimate our ability to acclimatize to it.

So, if you found yourself celebrating the giant temperature swing today because 20℉ felt warm, ask yourself what else you could do this week to make a change that in 15 days could feel so much less fearful. Perhaps all you need to do is put on the proverbial set of extra mittens to start your change…trust me, in 15 days, any discomfort that you felt on the first day, will soon be long gone.

As Mark Twain reminds us, it is up to us to explore, dream, and discover. What’s stopping you?

​-Coach Amy