It’s far easier to run to something, than run away from something.
Running to a new relationship. A new career. Starting a family. Going for promotion. Moving away from the old things, starting new things.
But it hard when we are stuck in a rut, or sometimes even a groove (so chilled) – we know something has to change. But what? What’s wrong? What could be better? Sometimes we just don’t know or how.
Showing us the possibilities is what learning is all about – it gives us direction.
When we learn, when we truly understand something new, that something can be different, change is much easier.
And learning is far easier than change – it could be a book, watching a video, listening to a podcast. What’s great about learning is nobody is asking you to change anything – just a bit of your time.
Without knowing why things need to change, the uncomfortable nature of change is amplified. You know that feeling when someone has asked you to change something – but without any explanation. Every aspect of it makes us uncomfortable because we don’t understand why the change is needed, or how this will benefit us. We rebel. We get angry. We fight with everything we have to stop the change from happening. Demotivated. Depression. Anxiety.
Change is hard – it involves lots of mental and physical effort – and that’s why learning should always be the start of that journey (and of course learning could stretch out to be the entire journey of a change).
Nobody should expect anyone just to change – themselves, someone or something at work, a partner, a child, a parent – without enabling learning first.
If this is a change we are doing to ourselves then without enabling our own learning that change is just as difficult – not matter how much we want it. We need to know more to embedded the change and make it work.
We also shouldn’t have a problem if someone chooses not to change – that’s OK it’s there decision, but for them to refuse to learn (this could just be as simple listening and engaging in a conversation) is never a good thing.
After all, when people start to learn – we might find out they’d been right all along. But we never know until we start to learn ourselves.
