Everything Must Change

This morning I was thinking about how much in my life is changing right now. A few weeks back I found out our company is being acquired. This is happening so much right now, whether companies are being acquired, people are being laid off due to restructuring, or there are reductions in staff.

It is natural that you immediately feel fear and anxiety not knowing what is coming next. I certainly felt that. But I luckily had the tools to be able to quickly shift into a different mindset and determine I wasn’t going to let fear run the show.

This is where I encourage people to lean into the tools they have learned! Usually one of the first things we forget to do when we are stressed or overwhelmed is our self-care routines. For me, that would be not doing my daily energy routine (linked here), my morning visualization, or taking the time to center myself before I start the day.

Two things happened while I was listening to the President of our company make this announcement over Zoom. Nina Simone’s song “Everything Must Change” popped into my mind, and I wrote down two statements: “The only constant is change!” and “Don’t let fear interfere!”

Since the first time I heard Nina sing this song, it has held a special place in my heart. I was sitting in a new friend’s den in the countryside in Kent, England, just a mile or two from Sissinghurst, where Vita Sackville-West lived and Virginia Woolf often visited. I had just moved away from everyone I knew to live in London on my own, so perhaps it isn’t surprising that a song about change stayed with me.

There is something about the minor key and the way Nina sings about how little in life we can really be sure of that acknowledges the reality of change, while still leaving me with a feeling of hope. Maybe that is why the song came back to me all these years later, during another moment when I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen next.

So, I thought I would share a few tools with you that you might be able to use if you are in a time of transition or going through something that might be out of your control (we all love control, don’t we!).

Use Energy Exercises to Help Ground and Calm You

When something unexpected happens, sometimes the first thing we need is simply a way to settle ourselves enough that we can think about what is happening without immediately getting pulled into the fear.

A few of the energy exercises I use are:

• Qi Gong/Ocean Breath
• Four Thumps
• Triple Warmer/Spleen Hug

These are simple tools that can help you ground yourself, calm some of that initial reaction, and create a little space before deciding what comes next. Click here for the recordings by my colleague Marjorie Fein of Your Energy Toolkit!

Use a What If Statement

Instead of immediately going to the worst-case scenario in your mind (“What if I lose my job, my insurance, my stability?”), try thinking about some of the other possibilities that could exist.

“What if this is the push to bring in the change that I have wanted for years?”

“What if this is a blessing in disguise?”

“What if nothing changes at all and I am able to expand my role in some way in this new organizational structure?”

The interesting thing is that I don’t know if any of those What If statements will happen. But I don’t know that the worst-case scenarios will happen either. If my mind is going to fill in the blanks when I don’t have all the information, I would rather give it a few possibilities that leave me feeling more hopeful and open to what might come next.

There are so many unknowns and so many things that are out of our control. A What If statement doesn’t mean pretending those things don’t exist. For me, it is a way to shift my perspective so that fear isn’t the only possibility I am considering.

Take Purposeful Action

Once I have calmed some of the initial fear and opened myself up to other possibilities, I can start thinking about what I can do. There may be a lot about a situation like this that is out of my control, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing I can do.

One purposeful action might be visualizing the outcome I would like. I try not to make the visualization attached to a specific person, company, or job title, but instead make it broader. When we get so specific, we may limit what we are even open to receiving.

For instance, if you are looking for a new job, instead of saying, “I want this job with this company, with this manager, with this job title and this salary,” you could visualize yourself being in a rewarding position where your knowledge and experience are valued, surrounded by people you enjoy working with, and being able to thrive financially through the pay you receive.

And then I try to feel what that experience would actually be like. What does it feel like to wake up and look forward to the work I’m doing? What does it feel like to know that my contribution is valued? What does it feel like to have financial stability and still have room in my life for the people and things that matter to me?

Do not spend more than a few minutes doing this visualization – and if your mind starts to wonder – that is fine – try to gently come back to your intended visualization, but do not restart the timer. No more than 3-4 minutes is recommended. You can also add in Ocean Breath to deepen your visualization!

Purposeful action can also be something much more practical. Maybe it is refreshing your resume, reaching out to colleagues at other companies, brushing up on new skills through LinkedIn Learning courses, or simply starting to explore what opportunities are out there.

It doesn’t mean you have to make a huge change today. It is about looking at what you can control and asking yourself what one action might help move you toward the outcome you would like.

I hope that if you are going through a similar situation, you can take some of these tools with you to help ease some of the pressure you may be feeling and navigate this time of transition with a bit more ease.

And if you are navigating a time of change or uncertainty and feel like you could use some additional support figuring out what comes next, this is also something we can explore together in a private session. We can look at what you’re experiencing, what you would like to move toward, and which tools might help you find some clarity and begin taking purposeful action. If that feels like something that would be helpful, I’d love to work with you.

You can learn more about my sessions at https://www.robbikearns.com/sessions

Sending love and light to you all!

Robbi