What's Up With Change?

Change. No, this is not an endorsement of a candidate running for the up and coming election. The word did not just recently appear in our vocabulary. That does not mean that it is not important, or that we should not discuss what it means for everyday individual lives.

If there is one thing people have difficulties implementing and handling; it is 'change'. It is a topic of many professionals, whether they work in the health occupations, are therapists, teachers, or whatever. The topic leading to discussions around many a lunch-table. How can we support? How can we educate? How can we accommodate? How can we motivate?

When people work with people, the subject is unavoidable. Whether it be physical or emotional lifestyle problems, processes of grief, or meeting various types of crises; coping is usually quite poor. Most people seek help when the bottom is hit, and the crises has become reality, and even though they have opportunities and endless information at hand that can aid them in their 'self-responsibility' to at least do as good of a job as they possibly can.

You need only to walk to your refrigerator and cupboard to find information about preventative health measures, placed on the many food containers. You need only turn on the television, and the same is brought into your home. Sit down at the computer, and vasts amounts of information is at your fingertips.

Education and information have been priorities in preventative healthcare for decades. The majority collectively nod heads, and agree. Yet, it stops for many when individual 'doing' needs to be implemented. I have never seen as much health information spread to the public, as I have in the US. Yet, the term, 'Sedentary Death Syndrome' is now coined to describe the trend of younger generations of children that will not outlive their parent generations. This is only one tiny example in a sea of many.

Couples head for separation and divorce, and the numbers are staggering. People are dissatisfied, disgruntled, and in conflict. The last time I took a look, second marriages were ending at a rate of 65% and higher within the first five years of marriage in many Western countries. No, it does not necessarily get any easier the second time around. Children picking up mindsets of negativity, and learning how to cope with non-coping skills, are the outcomes. Their sense of self-worth and peace affected by economic constraints, long after divorces are finalized.

Individuals plagued with melancholy, mild and serious depressions, moodswings, disharmony, and dissatisfaction. Life should offer more, should be more, and be better. Envy thrives with all that it leads to, among of which, you can find behaviors of gossip, and back-talking others. These of course, also happen for other reasons as well, yet envy allows insecurity to replace pro-active attitudes. Wanting better is not a 'negative', and it is certainly not synonymous with unthankfulness. They are entirely different subjects. Wanting more or better is the first step in implementing change, and allowing something new to happen.

In working with people, it is not difficult to foresee the outcome of a path decided upon. Neither is it difficult to see how that same future changes, with the most subtle of changes implemented. Yet, the word 'subtle' is a keyword in this equation. It is all a process, and heading towards those outcomes are filled with subtle signs. Most everyday lives are exactly that. They are average, everyday lives.

As a Nurse, I could inform people of which path they were headed down, inform and teach to help them become knowledgeable, support their process toward change, and accommodate with everything in my power. However, it is always fruitless if people do not see, or are willing to accept that change is needed, and that other outcomes can be prevented. Such is every field that deals in helping people, and no matter what the subject is about. Nor is it isolated to people that find themselves in the muddy waters of crises. It encompasses each, and every life.

People know that information and help are easily found. People mentally agree with a lot of things. People can even really want something else inside, and even though they do not express it to their environments. Yet, not many begin with the 'doing'. They want to, but they don't want to.

I know what I know about the subject. But, I would like to hear some shouts, your take, and your opinion. What stops many from implementing the first small steps? What gets in the way?