A lot of change has taken place for me and those around me this fall.

Some would say that change can be for the better and for worse…. but is change EVER really bad?

Change helps us to grow, learn, adapt, expand on new skills and gain new perspectives and experiences.

As I mentioned in my last post, many of my friends and colleagues experienced change this fall. They left jobs, relationships, moved and/or made life decisions that will impact their future.

One of the major changes I’ve been experiencing this fall, is with my family. In July, my family undertook the building of a new dairy barn back at home in Hastings. It is no doubt, an exciting and wonderful time. But as with all change, its comes with bittersweet, mixed and unexpected emotion. We’re leaving our old dairy barn, a barn we loved to milk our cows in. Its the only thing me and my siblings have known.

Everyone is so grateful for this opportunity to build a state-of-the-art dairy barn. But with anything new, the ‘what ifs’ swirling around in your head can feel overwhelming.

And that’s OK.

I keep reminding myself (and my family) that change is necessary and needs to continue to happen. And whether you like  it or not, change inevitably happens! I too, sometimes question the pace at which change is happening now a days. And this, coming from a millennial whose generation ONLY knows fast-paced change! Even for me, someone who likes to believe they can adapt (easily?), I too at first, am sometimes apprehensive to change. And that’s because we’re human. 

I can only imagine how people who haven’t experienced change as often as others or who are resistant to change can feel totally overwhelmed. Change makes us feel vulnerable and that is why we dread it. It exposes us to the ‘uncertainty’ of ‘not knowing.’ And that is scary to us as humans, a species that always wants to be ‘in the know’ and ‘in control.’

Change is something we’ve seen and experienced especially in the social media movement of the last 10 years. It is moving at such a rapid pace.  You try a new social media platform and feel like you’ve finally ‘mastered’ it…. and then there are updates to it, or a ‘new and exciting’ platform is introduced altogether. Applying the saying ‘Adapt or Die’ seems so fitting if you want to keep up with social media these days.

What is exciting though, and something I’ve gotten SO much better at, is being open to the unknown as a way to deal wtih change. Even if you believe you may be Type A – a planner, a person who always knows what’s going on and wants to have things planned – the first step to accepting change is accepting that you won’t be in control all the time.

And once you let go of that notion of control, it can really be an alleviating feeling. 

This fall, its been amazing to watch my family grow together through the barn build – experiencing the uncertainty  of change – together.

With the right attitude of being open to the change, it is an exciting year ahead to look forward too in 2017 as we  move our cows into their new home. Check out some shots of the barn build at the beginning, in July and updated shot taken recently in November.

Crovalley’s New Dairy Barn – July 2016

Crovalley’s New Dairy Barn – November 2016