“All change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.” —Robin Sharma, The Wealth Money Can’t Buy

Inspired by this month’s A Cuppa Moments w/TOP Tier Members where our conversation prompt centers around tailored change for each of us, our first Monday Motivational post of September and of this season’s La Rentrée is a post to hopefully provide a road map, as well as reassurance to stick with the change we’ve chosen as we already know doing so will enhance our life. Here we go!

The first attempt at upping a fitness routine to incorporate running as opposed to walking, or cycling as opposed to swimming, the lungs and/or legs will burn begging us to stop, and our reaction to such unwanted sensations, aches and exertion our muscles haven’t trained for is to halt and return to what we know.

However, the rudimentary part of change, lasting change, significant change, is that initially the transition to what we set our sights on will be difficult.

Why does it have to be so difficult right out of the gate? Isn’t this contradictory to helping us integrate the new change into our life more successfully?

Basic physics pretells that when we change directions, we are essentially starting from scratch and have to build up our momentum to start moving toward a new destination or way of doing something, and that new momentum takes an immense amount of energy to create. In many ways, in this choice to change, we become acutely aware of what we may have taken for granted that now comes so easily because at some point we had to start that habit, that approach, with no momentum as well.

Now with that said, the difficulty as we begin will fade away with time so long as we stay the course.

And here is another insight to keep in mind: The more difficult something will be at the starting line, the more significant and worthwhile the change will be when it eventually becomes a part of our lives. Now there is some start-up motivation to get us going!

Author and public speaker on personal success, Robin Sharma writes, “Intensive personal change and outright human transformation are meant to scary and difficult and confusing at first. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be real change. And there would be no value in it.” When we know this life truth upfront, we have been given the keys to staying the course, and even more helpful, once we weather the first part of change, to know that we still have a bit more of an obstacle course to make our way through steels us from halting and reversing course.

What might the second, the ‘messy’ part consist of?

Say for example you make the decision to leave your current job and either look for or take a new job elsewhere. The first step – making the decision and throwing your weight behind it – will take an abundance of energy, extra time, and emotion. The process of leaving on reputable terms, respecting where you are and extending appreciation and saying goodbye thoughtfully and professionally is not for the faint of heart if done well. The middle part arrives when we step into our new place of work and are learning the ropes, building our reputation, making connections and demonstrating our value as a worker to a new audience both colleagues and bosses, but clients as well.

No longer are we shifting our energy into a new direction. We are already rolling forward, but now the obstacles arise that will test us and force us to let go of autopilot, or defaults we may have slipped into in our previous place of work. It will take conscious effort to engage with intention and forethought to plan for unknowns or how to handle unknowns should they arise. So, yeah, it is messy because we are charting new waters, and we will likely make mistakes along the way, but those mistakes teach us what we didn’t know and need to know to continue forward well.

Let’s take a look at how a dahlia comes to share its late summer beauty with us: First stage, planting the tuber in early spring – looks like a potato spud in many ways, but once we put it into soil, water it just enough and keep it some place warm, the energy begins to surge, a lot of energy to bring forth the stems, leaves and eventual blooms that to the nascent eye seem all but possible when we first peer at the tuber. Middle stage, the dahlia is planted outside after the last frost, and is now subjected to the outdoor elements, insects and gardeners or critters who might step on it, break it before it has time to come to bloom (it takes about 100 days for most dahlias to mature to blooms). In other words, obstacles abound, but success is absolutely possible with careful intention and awareness. And then, the final arrival, the gorgeous blooms.

All of the change to bring forth the gorgeousness of the dahlia’s flowers requires intention first to pot up the tuber, care for the tuber properly, patiently and consistently nourish and protect it, and then, and THEN, yep, the beauty is able to be savored.

But now back to the journey of our change.

We’ve stayed the course on the road of chosen change or necessary change depending upon what prompted our decision. Either way, we have made it through the choppy waters, learned how to safely sail our vessel (ourselves) forward even if the waves and wind pushed us off course temporarily. Now, the gorgeous end, acquiring the new skill, becoming a regular runner with ease and perhaps maybe even enjoyment, or cycling with a trained physique that can methodically take us where we would like to go and instead of our legs burning, our eyes take in the wonder we pass by, or to continue the work analogy, we have established a respectful rapport with our colleagues and clients and advanced to a level where we feel both satisfied and optimized as our strengths are exercised to benefit those we work with and for.

While these are only three examples of what could be endless others, when we understand and step back to see the route is that leads us to the change we seek, we give ourselves peace of mind, patience and trust that even though for moments there will be difficulties and unknowns, so long as we remain engaged, flexible, yet clear, open to learning and giving it our best efforts, we will experience the outcome that motivated us to step forward and make the change.

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