When someone graduates from college, you give them a copy of “Oh the Places You’ll Go”. When the graduate then gets outsourced or downsized, you give him/her a copy of “Who Moved My Cheese”. I’ve got two copies of the former, and 5 copies of the latter, which tells you something about my education and career. Mergers, relocations, and “suspension of operations”… all on my resume. My personal life has seen it’s fair share of change as well.

‘Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.’ – JFK

Some of these changes were the result of choices I made, and some had nothing to do with me at all. In general, we cannot control what direction the universe pushes our lives, but we can control how we react. We can choose to resist, trying to hold on to a slippery past, or we can choose to hurl ourselves hopefully into the future. One of those choices is exhausting, and often results in disappointment. The other can also be exhausting, but often results in surprises and opportunities to grow. Just as I wouldn’t advise running into the woods while blindfolded, hurling yourself blindly into the future isn’t always the best approach. Look forward, make some decisions about where you’d like to end up, find the paths that look promising, and *then* run like hell into the woods. It’s worth remembering that you can always choose to leave the path later, and hack out a trail uniquely your own.

‘Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better.’ – King Whitney Jr.