Most of us are familiar with the childhood superstition so beautifully illustrated in Ruth Park and Deborah Niland’s book When the Wind Changed. Of course we didn’t really believe that an ugly face would stick if the wind changed! However, such superstitions betray an underlying belief that perhaps change is something to be feared.
As we move into the second half of 2014, we are all confronted by change, immersed in it, surrounded by it and – whether willingly or kicking and screaming – we are forced to participate in it. While there is nothing new about change – it is perhaps the most perennial force in the evolution of our reality as we know it – each age and each generation is confronted with new levels and types of change. At a broad level we have climate change, political change, economic change, technological change, and social and cultural change. In every mass media, we are bombarded with reminders of these on a daily basis.
Restructuring has become the catch cry for the new millennium, with both positive and negative connotations and denotations. In the past week, we have heard discussions about raising the pension age to 67, about the need to restructure the health system, about the escalating costs of housing and growing after-housing poverty to mention just a few.
All changes, whether global, national or local, impact us personally. While there may be differing degrees of impact based on the type of change experienced and an individual’s ability to deal with change, most of us experience stress when confronted with change. And all the rhetoric in the world about braving change, about its benefits, about the need to adapt and be resilient does not make […]
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