Chatty Metalsmith's Blog Jamboree

How do you deal with change? Does it stress you out? Do you look for opportunities? This month the Chatty Metalsmiths have chosen "change" as the topic of our new Blog Jamboree. We have gone though some big changes to our group in the last month due to the closing of some of the forums on Etsy and the creation of our new team. Some people handled the change well, others freaked out...which got me to thinking about how I deal with change...

I have lived through lots of change. As a child, we moved almost every year....new state, house, school, friends. I think this experience made me more adaptable and comfortable with big changes. I even crave change now. Every few years I have to rearrange the furniture or I start to feel stagnant. Big changes are good, they bring new environments, new possibilities, fresh starts. I love a change of scenery!

So, I love a good big change but the small ones really throw me for a loop. Kid says he wants cereal instead of waffles for breakfast, Husband needs to be to work an hour early, a doctor appointment or a kid home sick from school....all those kinds of changes throw off my routine and I don't like that at all. I can't get my head in the game, things get missed or left behind...I feel like I'm floating through my day. Little changes, life's snags, leave me feeling like a boat without a rudder.

Big changes are easy to control. They need planning and orginization and I know when they will arrive. Small changes are out of my control and really throw me for a loop. I'm at the mercy of the whims of another instead of the force of my will and momentum. Having kids is a baptism by fire into the world of millions of tiny little changes. People say "having a child changes everything" and they are right. But it's not one big predictable, controllable change...it's an infinite number of small adjustments and you have to either learn to roll with it or you're going to get run over,...because the kids are driving the car!!

If you'd like to read what some of the other Chatty Metalsmiths have to say about change, check out their blogs:

http://janedeauxmetalfabrication.blogspot.com/
http://www.nova-designs.blogspot.com/
http://2trickponystudio.blogspot.com/
http://sassyglassdesigns.blogspot.com/
http://beadsnbanglesbykim.blogspot.com
http://kobrienjewelry.blogspot.com
http://www.artaddict.wordpress.com
http://www.abellablue.com/blog
http://luxedesignworkshop.blogspot.com
http://glenshire-shop.blogspot.com/
http://www.bellabijoujewellery.blogspot.com/