Why Wait?

I have noticed a common theme with my clients and people I have spoken to. When asked if they are glad that they have made changes, they tell me “yes” but their only regret is that they did not make the changes sooner.

With waiting being such a common regret, why do we so often resist making a change? My best guess is fear! Even when we are unhappy where we are fear keeps us from doing what we will later regret not doing sooner. We have a fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of achieving. Fear of change can be very confronting.

Good news is, is that if we make a change that we are unhappy with, we can change it again, and allow each experience to teach us something. Change is constant and all change is a process, so any movement is better than staying stagnant. Instead of waiting for a change to come to you, go ahead and make a change, even the smallest of changes is better than doing nothing.

I find that people regret more what they don’t do than what they do. Lose the wait and begin making the change you want now happen. Life is about experimenting and discovering, not playing it safe and staying stuck.

Ask yourself “What is one thing in my life I will regret not doing this year?” Promise yourself to live without regret and figure out a way to start making it happen. You don’t have to do it all at once, change takes time. Take small steps and commit to doing at least one thing a day that will move you closer to the change you want.

"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life and in change there is power." Alan Cohen