Change is the law of life. Resisting it is as fruitful as stopping your own breathing. Instead, try driving into a skid.

Driving Through a Skid

According to DefensiveDriving.com, the instinctive reactions to skidding while driving include the following: turning the wheel in the opposite direction, and staring at the target we’re about to hit.

This is very similar to how most people handle change. They resist the change in an attempt to counteract it, or they try to step out of the path of change, watching it as it happens.

When it comes to both skids and change, these methods are not only ineffective, but they can actually make things worse!

When we are not in panic mode, we know that we must turn into the skid.

It’s the same thing with change.
We often resist change, even when the change is something we want. We try to hold on or go back.

It is not possible to go back. Even if we go back to the physical place, it is not the same. And we are not the same.

Navigating Change

The defensive driving site gives two important tips regarding skidding.

First, don’t panic. Because instinct is not our friend here, we need to maintain a clear head to decide what to do.

Second is to keep your focus on a target in the distance.

Choose a point further down the road, in the direction you are headed, and stay focused on this object. With this target in view, you’ll be better able to redirect your car so that it is once again traveling in the right direction.

Finally, navigate the skid, you must turn the wheel of the car into the skid.

So too with change. The best way to manage change is to embrace it.

What We Don’t Control

There’s a timing issue here. You want to anticipate change and lean into it in the proper timing. You want to know it’s coming and be able to flow with the change.

Sometimes change happens around us.
Other times, we initiate the change, either by circumstance or by injecting change into our lives.

No matter how we get there, we must adapt to and embrace the change.

Our challenge is to remember that we don’t control the timing of the change.