Change Is Messy

With any change, one day you’ll feel like you are crushing it and that “you’ve got this”, and the next day it might seem like nothing is going right and you're wondering how you'll make it through the day.

You will have amazing days where you are fired up, energized and being the leader, parent and person you want to be.

And, you will have days where you feel overwhelmed, frustrated that nothing seems to be going right, and when you definitely aren’t showing up as your best self.

Especially now when our days are often turned upside down and people are already feeling on edge.

Change is messy. Not everything is supposed to go smoothly, so stop expecting it to. You have a choice to embrace it instead of fighting it.

Over the years, I’ve learned how to thrive even with all the demands and expectations (which is what I help others to do now).

Last week, I had a couple of the not-so-good days. This is a time of change getting back into the Fall and back-to-school routine for our family.

I definitely was not showing up as my best self. Little things were annoying me, I wasn’t that productive with work and my impatience got the best of me with the kids.

What is different now for me than it would have been a few years ago, is that it's a bad hour or bad day. I am not living in the overwhelm and frustration day after day.

I adjust my expectations, pay attention to how I am feeling and honor what I need to feel better.

And, I remind myself that change is messy and it's not all supposed to go smoothly.

On those harder days, you might feel like a failure, but you are not – learn from it and reset.

You might want to give up on the change you want to see, but don’t – it can be just one bad day or a messy time.

You might be hard on yourself, but that definitely doesn’t help you or anyone – grant yourself grace and let it go.

The difference in people is that some stay in the overwhelming and frustrating pattern, day after day.

And some choose to honor what they need, get back to living their values, and accept the lesson and learn from it.

They choose to focus on what is good and trust they will figure it out.

They choose to let go of worrying about what did or didn’t happen, and focus on what will make things better.

You absolutely can make it through whatever change you’re going through right now. You will have amazing days and you will have hard days.

Simply, pay attention. Honor what you need. Look for what is good. Accept the lessons. Be patient and kind to yourself along the way.

And definitely don’t give up on creating the change that you want to see.

Because everything you want is on the other side of this messy time.

All my best,

What Next?

You can sign up for Stacey's masterclass, The Confident "No" here.

Stacey L. Olson is a Leadership and Certified Positive Psychology Coach, has 15 years of corporate experience and has gone through her own transformational change from burning out to balanced in life while performing at a high level (both in her corporate career and own business). She works with professionals who want to work less, live more and be their best even with all the demands, high expectations and messiness of everyday life. Stacey is the founder of The Balanced Leader™ program and offers executive and leadership coaching, workshops, and speaking.