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{*Did you know you can write on Elephant? Here’s how—big changes: How to Write & Make Money or at least Be of Benefit on Elephant. ~ Waylon}
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Sometimes change is a gradual process.

Small shifts and minor developments that show up over time.

And while being able to see change coming doesn’t always make it easier to stomach, it does give us the opportunity to prepare. To adjust. To put the necessary plans in place.

But sometimes, change is a bolt of lightning, a blow to the head, an unexpected explosion.

And when that happens, we can feel paralyzed.

How do we prepare for something we couldn’t even see coming? Something we didn’t imagine would happen? Something that arrived sooner than we expected?

The truth is, we can’t.

Some changes just happen when they happen, and all we can do is find a way to accept our new reality.

To face what used to be and what no longer is. To feel the shock, the sadness, the anger, and ultimately, the grief.

Grief over the present we thought was upon us. The future we believed was ahead of us. The life that, from this moment on, will never look the way we hoped.

And just like when someone we love dies, the grief that comes from losing the life, the relationship, the job, the dream we loved can feel overwhelming. Like more than we can bear.

Yet, we are capable of bearing it. Of walking through the pain and coming out on the other side. Different? Yes. But better? Often.

If you don’t believe this, just think about all the change and grief and loss you’ve endured in your life and how you are still here, still moving forward.

When we’re stuck in the grief that comes with change, these eight quotes can help us accept our new reality:

“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.” ~ Flannery O’Connor

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” ~ Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” ~ William Arthur Ward

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” ~ James Baldwin

“I have accepted fear as part of life—specifically the fear of change…I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back…” ~ Erica Jong

“Someday you’re gonna look back on this moment of your life as such a sweet time of grieving. You’ll see that you were in mourning and your heart was broken, but your life was changing.” ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

“Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.” ~ Eckhart Tolle

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