Change Comes in Many Forms

For the year of 2014, Susan’s Organizing Solutions owner Susan Layden has focused on a theme which she will revisit throughout the year: Embracing Change, and the many facets of allowing change in one’s life.

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My own physical health and well-being is an area where I have chosen to embrace change. I have largely maintained the same weight and clothing size my adult life – even after the births of my two children. But I was younger and more flexible and determined to get my body back and keep it that way. I would get up early – like 5:15a.m. and go jogging 2 or 3 miles every other day. On the in-between days, I would do a routine with hand and ankle weights and a few other simple exercises. I also did my own yard work every week and maintained a clean and neat home. I worked outside the home part-time and volunteered in several areas. The years wore by and my body aged a bit and with it my back began to hurt. It got to the point it bothered me enough that I had to give up my jogging and the weights. Eventually I downsized my home and a neighborhood service takes care of the yard. Wow! In four or five years, I have put on a good 10 pounds and I am not the firm body I was once. Now some people say, “You look fine. You’re not as young as you used to be. You can’t stay the same forever” and on and on. But I disagree with that. I am not trying to stay “young”, but I am trying to stay healthy and flexible. Fortunately, I have a lot of energy. Many of my clients say I am like the energizer bunny.

What I have noticed with age has come a slower morning start due to arthritic stiffness of the bones and joints. I can no longer jump right out of bed and head out the door for a jog. And I seem to need another hour or two of sleep more than I did in years gone by. And since most days I start with a client first thing in the morning, I must adjust my schedule and my head to exercise in the late afternoon or evening.

I am committed this year to trying to get back into better shape and get my body firmer and more toned so I can face the rest of my life as healthy and strong as possible. I have to have a mental shift in how I organize my days and my nights. I have to find that little bit of extra energy within to walk or do those weights even when I may not want to go out. But, just like the people I work with and encourage to make changes in their lives, I have put it in my calendar – a little at a time. Just 15 to 30 minutes a day.

That’s what change is about. You have to make realistic, doable plans and put them in writing and see where it takes you. So, I encourage you to “embrace change” for whatever it is you want and need to work on and see what can happen in your life.

What is one change you can make today?