Introducing: Flux

Oop – almost did it again! I had an idea to start a new blog. But, unfortunately, I spent more time looking at website templates than I spent writing. I keep wanting a fresh start, but it sort of feels like I’m running away from what’s in front of me to chase something else that looks newer. I can stop that pattern now and work from where I am. 

In life, you don’t get many chances to start over. But when you do, you make the change in your head first. Then you reframe the past to support your new vision for the future. One of my goals is not to run away from my past but to appreciate what it taught me and use those lessons to create the future with greater intention and wisdom. 

I’m reading a book titled “Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change”. The author, April Rinne, opens by explaining what the book is about. It’s not another book on change management, “rather, it is about reorienting one’s attitude towards uncertainty and the unknown, and learning to see every change as an opportunity, not a threat…”. 

I have studied change management, and, broadly, I enjoy the discipline. I’m well-versed in change management theories; I’m even a certified change practitioner through Prosci. But I need a new way to look at change. The way I’ve been approaching it isn’t working. I need a new paradigm, and I think this book will offer it. 

I just completed “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. His text focuses on establishing tried-and-true principles that don’t change even though everything else around you might. It’s early, but I think April’s text shows you one path to developing said principles. I can’t remember how I learned about this book, but I’m glad I did.

In the book’s introduction, she recounts a life-changing experience: one year away from college graduation, she learns that her parents died in a car accident the day before. She writes, 

“In that moment, time stood still: the future was going to be wildly different than I’d imagined, or that my parents imagined, or than it had looked a year earlier, or even an hour earlier.”

– April Rinne

I was a few years younger when I had a similarly traumatic experience, and I had a similar reaction. I didn’t know what to do, and I felt I didn’t have anywhere to turn for support. I didn’t have the wisdom I do now that could help me reframe the experience into something meaningful. I’d just assumed my best years – at 18, of all ages – were behind me. 

This earth-shattering type of change, though, happens to people every day. It’s not always death or an illness; sometimes, it’s related to a job, friendship, or something else. But change is always happening. I get tired of hearing it, but it’s true – change is the only constant. And you’d think we’d be better with change since it happens so often, but I don’t think we are. Rinne asserts that: 

“The pace of change has never been as fast as it today, and yet, it is likely to never again be this slow. 

– April Rinne

That’s freaking terrifying. 

She goes on to say:

“The future is not more stable; the future is more uncertain.”

– April Rinne

Geez, lady. That’s depressing and unsettling. If that’s true, my current unsuccessful approach to managing change will be completely unsustainable. And I think it’s true. So, if this amount of change is happening, whether I want it to or not, I need to get better at managing it.