Change is Hard. Even for a Change Professional.

This is Sadie. Like all of us, Sadie has been through a lot of change in the past 30 months. The family she knew for the first five years of her life was unable to take care of her at the start of the pandemic. The person who adopted her then became ill in late 2021. She found a soft spot to land with a great foster family for a few months, then we found her and happily welcomed her into our lives. 

Life in the city is quite different than the rural life she knew for her first few years. There are lots of loud noises which are scary. This shower is Sadie’s safe space. She spent most of the July 4th weekend there. 

As I write, a demolition crew is very loudly destroying Sadie’s refuge. A much overdue (20 years!!) renovation is finally underway impacting both my office and the bathroom, and Sadie and I will both have to learn to adapt yet again. 

The image I have of myself in my mind is of someone who embraces change, who seeks it out, and who isn’t tethered to routine. 

I lie to myself. 

The truth is that I’m anxious and stressed out about all the changes this project is causing for the next month or so. How I’ll have to come downstairs to brush my teeth when I wake up in the morning. How I’ll have to do all my meetings just feet away from my husband’s office. How I have to keep track of four pets and make sure they don’t get upstairs and bother the folks working on the renovation or get hurt. How my oasis of an office is packed up and all my things are scattered throughout the house. How I’m going to need to reconfigure it once this work is done, as it will be a little bit smaller (worthwhile sacrifice for a beautiful and functional bathroom). 

I am not smoothly adapting. I don’t know if it’s change overload with everything that’s happened in the past few years. Or if I’m more of a creature of habit than I thought I was. But I’m off kilter. I find myself doing mid-day meditations, and writing more and reaching into my toolbox of coping mechanisms. I literally have a masters degree in dealing with change. I’ve studied how to help people and organizations adapt. And made a career out of it. And am learning anew that it’s hard. 

So many of the people you encounter are going through changes and challenges that you can’t see through a video screen. Still. Even now that we’re in the “new normal”. Change fatigue is real, and it compounds. 

Give yourself space. Give others space. And please excuse Sadie’s barking if you’re on a call with me. It’s noisy in here!