Be Prepared....

Flexibility: adj. Characterized by a ready capability to adapt to new, different, or changing requirements. Responsive to change; adaptable.

So Joel and I have just finished reading a book named “The Two Sides of Love”, which is a good book about hardsided and softsided love. The first being correction and challenging the ones you love and the second type is nurturing, comforting love. A large part of this book is learning about personality and certain “traits” that people hold. One funny thing about this book is that they assign certain characteristics to different animals (just so everyone knows, yes I am a golden retriever mostly but do have a little bit of lion thrown in), so you’d have to read the book to know fully what I mean by these animals. Some (not all) of the traits that Golden Retrievers hold are enjoying routine, disliking change, adaptability and react to sudden changes. Which really means there are four important words that apply when approaching Golden Retrievers about a change and they are: “Prepare them for change.”

Since reading this book I have found that I like my personality and the fact that I am a Golden Retriever; but it is important to realize that change can be a good thing and routines need to change sometimes (as Joel would say “You gotta mix it up!”). For those of you who don’t know, I work with Middle School students; specifically the 7th grade girls. These girls are hilarious and amaze me each week; they also like to bring their friends along for the ride! I help lead a “small” group bible study and our numbers have grown to about 20 girls each week (obviously not that small)! It had become clear that we needed to split the girls into two different groups because smaller groups help to foster better discussion and helps to focus everyone on the subject. Tonight, we “broke” the news to our girls and they took the news well. The parents, on the other hand, have/had a lot of concerns; which is understandable and appropriate. One thing that I have been trying to remember through this whole time is that I need to remain flexible and adaptable and be “okay” with change. So the advise that was given to me was to have a “spirit of fluidity”, and tonight the changes that had already been made (and that I was prepared for) were tweaked a little bit more. I was surprised at myself that even just saying “don’t react, fast changes are okay!” in my head helped to receive these new changes. I actually feel good with these changes and as I sit write this; I am thankful for people in my life who will remind me to remain calm.

Now I do feel that I won’t probably fully change my personality, because, well I like it and it’s who I am. But that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t acknowledge that some of those traits can be unproductive at times; as all personality traits that are held by lions, beavers, otters and golden retrievers. It’s important to remember that we need to remain flexible in certain times in our lives (though the other side of the coin; there are times to be definite and flexibility isn’t the right answer.)