The Winds of Change and Our Wellbeing - Emma Coonan

As January nears to a close, many of us may already have settled into the new year, while for others the new year may still be taking shape. Many are hitting the ground running, with new and old routines filling weeks and weekends.

Others may still be drawing on the spirit of January, contemplating and planning goals for the year ahead. Whether you are settled in or still contemplating, these decisions are often anchored in the desire for change, with the encouragement of a new calendar year ahead to bring it to life.

While for some, change is being thrust upon us, with the recent news about changes relating to jobs, houses, services, and more, across the country. News like this can create changes we did not expect, or perhaps do not want. This can feel very different to those changes that we planned to make, and feel ready for.

Responding to unexpected change
While planned change can make us feel excited and optimistic, unexpected change can create feelings of uncertainty, fear, and anxiety. We can find ourselves worrying about the present and the future, what we will do next, and what the impacts will be. The shock of change coming to meet us, rather than us going out to find it, can often leave us feeling lost and unsure what to do.

The process of change can feel different for everyone. Often depending on our past experiences, we each have our own unique ways of responding to change. Some of us can recover and pivot quickly. Others may need more time to process events, and work out their meaning.

Whatever change means for you, it is important to remember that we each have our own responses to it. Taking a moment to reflect on how we feel we process change, and the supports we might need, can help us to better approach change.

Recognising our own Resilience
Resilience is often described as our capacity to respond to, manage, and recover from an adverse or challenging experience, and can enable us to ‘bounce back’ from these events. Resilience is a capacity that we all have within us, a natural ability to face the challenges that life can throw at us.

Recognising our own resilience capacity can be an important part of our wellbeing practice, as it can help us to recognise what we might need from ourselves and others to deal with unexpected events. Not unlike the process of change, this can look and feel different for each of us.

Resilience awareness and practices can mean not only recovery from difficult times, but that we might do even better than we thought we could after a difficult experience. This can help us to process unexpected change when it comes.

Putting Practices in Place
Resilience is not a static capacity, but it is one that can be developed and improved upon. Introducing practices that support us to feel more resilient can be an important part of our self-care routine. These practices do not have to be complicated, and mindfulness based practices can be an effective way to support developing our resilience capacity.

I recently took up a new hobby, or I should say restarted an old hobby, of painting; something I haven’t done in years. I’m easing myself back into it with a simple ‘paint by numbers’ picture that I picked up in a local art and hobby shop. Focusing on the picture in front of me, and following the instructions, has given my mind a temporary but important break.

This simple hobby is allowing me to detach from the busyness of everyday life and nourish my resilience, so that when I re-engage with the day-to-day I can do it refreshed and with a renewed sense.

These seemingly simple practices give our minds and bodies a chance to decompress, adding to our resilience levels, so that we have the resources we might need to deal with bumps in the road when they appear.

A final thought...
At this time of year, many of us may be planning to make positive changes to our routines and habits.
Sometimes, change can come when we don’t expect it, bringing uncertainty or anxiety.

Recognising simple but important ways to support ourselves during times of change can help up to build our resources, and in turn our resilience, to help to support us during the winds of change.

Emma Coonan is an Accredited Psychotherapist with IAHIP and ICP, Lectures in Psychotherapy, and is a qualified Adult Education Trainer. After leaving Coláiste Phobal Roscrea, Emma studied English and Media in Maynooth University, before combining her Psychotherapy training with experience in the corporate world. Emma focuses on applying Psychotherapy practices for everyday living, through developing resilience, stress response, and mindfulness practice.