Embracing Change - Amy Schisler

I’ve always felt like I’m in the minority here, but I love change. I welcome change. I open my arms to it and let it fill me with possibility. Like the beloved nanny who appears on the winds of change, you never know what’s going to happen when there’s a shift in the current dynamic. Rather than cower and despair when change is upon us, I see things the way that Mary Poppins sees them, “We’re on the brink of an Adventure. Don’t spoil it by asking questions” (P.L. Travers, Mary Poppins Comes Back).

Life is all about change.

Whole novels have been based on it: Gone With the Wind, 1984, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Musicals take a bow to it: The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, The Wizard of Oz.

History is made by it: The birth of Christ, the reign of King Henry the VIII, the fall of the Berlin Wall.

I could go on and on.

Change, like the weather, is sometimes unpredictable but always inevitable. Who, under the age of 55, can’t recite Robert Frost’s classic poem as immortalized by Ponyboy Curtis in the Outsiders?

frost

Some see the poem as a reference to youth, others to death. I like to think of it as a homage to change. It’s a reminder that nothing stays the same. Everyone ages, people pass away, the sun rises and sets, the earth continues to evolve, the calendar succumbs to the end of another year, and we are meant to accept all these things and move on.

January brings with it many opportunities–a new year, new resolutions, a new chance to become a better person, to try new things, to make new friends, to engage more fully in this thing called life. To many, those things are daunting, even overwhelming. We often hear, “nobody likes change,” and truthfully, change can be hard. It can frightening. It can lead to chaos. However, those who embrace change and find a way to either create it or capitalize on it, are often the ones who change the world.

Nelson Mandela

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Saint Paul

Abraham Lincoln

Simon Bolivar

Queen Victoria

Galileo

Leonardo da Vinci

Pope John Paul II

The list in endless.

So, I encourage you. Greet the new year with excitement, and embrace the changes that come your way–a new job, a new school, a new boss, a new home, a new city. Whatever life throws at you, seize the golden moment, the sunrise as well as the sunset–the beginnings and the endings. And when the changes you encounter cause you to retreat and reassess, take that as a sign that it’s time to react. As a very wise man once said,

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world” (Mahatma Gandhi).

What I was writing about a year ago this week: Our Future is Going Up In Smoke.

Amy Schisler is an award-winning author of both children’s books and sweet, faith-filled romance novels for readers of all ages. She lives with her husband and three daughters on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Her books, Picture Me, Whispering Vines, and Island of Miracles are all recipients of Illumination Awards, placing them among the top inspirational fiction books of 2015, 2016, and 2017. Whispering Vines was awarded the 2017 LYRA Award for the best romance of 2016. Island of Miracles has outsold all of Amy’s other books worldwide and ranked as high as 600 on Amazon. Her follow up, Island of Promise is a reader favorite. Amy’s children’s book is The Greatest Gift. The suspense novel, Summer’s Squall, and all of Amy’s books, can be found online and in stores. Her latest novel, Island of Promise, was recently awarded First Prize by the Oklahoma Romance Writer’s Association as the best Inspirational Romance of 2018.