How to adjust to change and uncertainty

COVID-19 has disrupted our lives, imposing all sorts of changes. How do we adjust to this new reality?Change has always been a part of our lives: children grow up and their parents grow old, professional conflicts lead to relocations and new career paths, health problems impact our lives, and the list goes on. There are also the global changes in the world: social changes, new technologies, geopolitical conflicts, and environment catastrophes. In 2020, the world has been confronted by upheavals caused by the coronavirus pandemic: deaths of loved ones, unemployment, travel cancelations, etc. How can we adjust to these changes in our lives?

Accepting uncertainties

Both our personality and background will dictate how quickly we adjust to these changes. Some will embrace them, easily adapting to the new reality. Others will have no choice but to accept them, fearing the uncertain future and feeling nostalgia for the past. They will need to deploy all their courage and will power to take back some control over their lives.

The dynamics of change require a combination of two things: the attachment to our roots and the ability to embrace new uncertainties. Human beings cannot look to the future without being firmly rooted in their past.

“Come, follow me!”

So, how can we open up to change? How can we accept it, even if it has disrupted our plans and taken us away from what we love? In embracing it as a call from God, like the one heard by Abraham: “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you” (Gen. 12:1).

When we are forced to change the ways we do our work, approach our vacation plans, embark on a new career path, lend a hand to the less fortunate or suffer the death of those we love, let us think of God asking us to leave our projects and all that we know to follow Him.

Christine Ponsard