The Myth About Change

And the REAL reason why we take so long to make it happen.

Photo courtesy of Coley Christine via Unsplash

“Change doesn’t take time, it happens in an instant… right when you make a decision. It’s getting ready to change that takes time.” — Tony Robbins

When I first heard this idea I was driving home after a fairly long and stressful day and Tony Robbins’ “Awaken the Giant Within” audio book was playing on my radio. As simple and seemingly obvious as this statement seems, it’s not so obvious when one has been conditioned to think that time has to slip by in order for change to occur. These past few months I’ve been challenged to change in various ways, just as every human being is constantly being put to the test. Only, I found myself knowing exactly how I needed to change, but stuck at the same time. Why, seems to be a good question to ask at this point. The reason? Well, my reason is most common as everyone else’s reason; F-E-A-R.

At the time, I didn’t like not knowing, I didn’t want to fail, I wasn’t sure if I was good enough, smart enough, or just plain enough. Whatever the reason was, it was always based on fear.

When it comes to goals and dreams, the truth that I’ve come to know is that no matter how much knowledge and skill one may acquire, no matter how talented, good looking or accomplished one may be, fear can be a most powerful force in keeping one’s dreams at a distance, and for some, never having them manifest at all.

The good news is that we as humans were blessed with a special gift; the gift of choice. We can CHOOSE to change how we view life and ourselves in ways that bring about results, instead of keeping us stuck. The problem, however, is that many of us have bought into the idea that change takes time. SO NOT TRUE! Change is always taking place all around us at any given moment. Change happens in every instance; from thoughts, to movement, to growth, even down to our every breath. Just because you can’t see the change right away, doesn’t mean it's not happening. The belief that change takes time only gives us the excuse to stay the same on borrowed time, except time is one thing that we can never get back.

As explained by Tony Robbins, the moment we make a decision that change MUST occur or else, we somehow muster up the will and the resources to make things happen. When the choice is do or die, and we’re backed against the wall we always produce a RESULT (maybe not the one we initially wanted, but a result nonetheless), and it almost always seems like a miracle! But the truth is that these “so-called miracles” are always at our disposal as humans. The moment we make the decision that change mustoccur, it does. But we have to be ready.

How do you get ready? As Tony suggests, we usually stay stagnant because we associate more pain with thought of change, than we do with our current circumstance. We think that changing will be more painful than staying the same because we fear the unknown. But if we decide to associate the idea of what it would cost if we don’t change with more pain, instead of the other way around, then change becomes DO OR DIE… Then, and only then, is when miracles can occur––that’s when we get results!

I wanted to share this idea with my readers because seeing it this way has opened up an entire new world of possibilities for myself. My hope is that it will do the same for you.

What area of your life do you know that you need to change in order for things to get better, but haven’t yet? What fear is keeping you from making a commitment to change? I really do want to know, so feel free to leave comment because we all learn from one another.