I’ve always felt that the changing of the seasons was a lot like the changing of who we are as people. For example, as trivial as it sounds, I really do think that people are a lot softer and kinder in the cooler months than they are in the thick heat of the Florida summers. Though who they are as a whole does not change entirely, I think that just as summer lays down to rest while we move from August to September, the changes that we experience as people and individuals also continue to transform.

The fall months are kind of the pinnacle point for change. Fall brings with it the back-to-school bustle as kids go from starting Kindergarten to even starting their first college classes. Parents are made to cope with empty bedrooms and quiet houses as children start making their own paths toward their own routes of success. Young adults have to face the reality of “adulting” and figuring out everything from bills and managing a budget to food shopping and not having the support network of their parents around them. It can seem as if everything is changing much faster than you would have anticipated it would, and, before you know it, your whole worldview seems like it’s been deconstructed and rebuilt again right before your eyes.

Change is hard, but it doesn’t always have to be. I think that the way you approach a situation can make all the difference. Often, it’s not always about what the situation is really pertaining to, but more so the way you as a person allow yourself to look at how it makes you feel, address those feelings, and find a new way to approach the change with fresh eyes.

This past year has been filled with a lot of change for me. I transferred universities, moved to two new places, lost family members, and a whole host of other changes that have pushed me into unfamiliar territory. Being afraid of change is easy. Humans are hardwired to be cautious about threats and foreign situations simply because, biologically, that is how we previously had to survive. Now that these unknown situations are no longer simply about figuring out which plants are poisonous or deciding how we are going to be able to feed our family, it can be harder to have that uneasy feeling go away instantaneously when our situations seem like ongoing change rather than something that has a quick solution.

The biggest lesson that I’ve learned about change is that you can’t put too much pressure on yourself to adjust instantaneously.  As with everything in life, there is an adjustment period where you are subjected to relearning your new situation, feeling out what is different, and selecting how you want to respond to the change as an individual. No two people have the same adjustment period, even if the situations of change that both parties are going through are almost identical. Every person does not have the same capacity to adjust to change, the same emotional maturity, or even the same life experiences to completely know what they need to do to feel better about something in their life that is now different than it was before. You as an individual have to allow yourself the opportunity to feel the range of emotions that come from change, growth and unfamiliarity. This is what taps into your own ability to take the situation that might seem scary and unfamiliar and turn it into an opportunity for growth within yourself to become better as an individual.

So, this year, as the summer turns to fall and the Florida temperatures begin to lower, take a second to stay in touch with yourself about how you’re feeling with the changing of the seasons. Take a moment to respond and remind yourself that even when things feel bad in the moment, they too will change for the better, even if at first it doesn’t seem like it.