Turning Point: “A point where something changes direction; a time at which a decisive change in a situation occurs.”
A turning point could be classified as an event or circumstance in life that shifts the course of your future and changes your current situation, almost to the point of a “new start.” These turning points are normally not seen ahead of time and are the most visible looking backwards at your history. If you take your life and split it up into months (if you’re 30 years old, you’ve been alive 360+ months) and then count how many massive turning points you have experienced, the ratio would be pretty small. (I have been alive 440 months, with less than 10 turning points that I have observed) Turning points don’t come into our lives very often.
When a turning point does occur, it’s important to change along with it. From my experience, many negative consequences that people experience occur when they don’t mentally change along with a physical change (job change, location change, death/loss of someone close, etc). The only thing certain in this world is change; how we handle change is something we should spend some time thinking about and preparing for.
The book “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson is a simple but fantastic metaphor of how people tend to handle change – both in healthy and in unhealthy ways. Some people pivot well – when something changes, they change with it. Others don’t pivot well and experience the frustrations that can come with change. The basic points of the book are really valuable to observe, since all of us will face major changes at one time or another.
Change Happens – Not a difficult point to understand, but one that we must accept – we cannot choose when a Turning Point will happen. Beware against self-deception in this area.
Anticipate Change – Not only will you choose change from time to time, life will force change on you. Accept this fact and don’t become unhealthily obsessed with your comfort zone – be ready to pivot.
Monitor Change – It’s a healthy practice to look ahead and see where change might be happening soon. Sometimes change hits you from left-field and you could not have seen it coming; other times, you should have forced the change long ago but you’ve been holding on for too long. Self-reflection and awareness of your life’s circumstances, along with if your current circumstances are in alignment with your future vision, are important.
Adapt to Change Quickly – The sub-point in his book says “The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you can enjoy new cheese!” For full satisfaction in life, we must be willing to learn from the past, live in the present, and prepare for the future. Living in the past will stall our joy and will never yield the best results possible for our future. This is not always easy, but if we truly want to claim the most from the Turning Points in our lives, we cannot stay too long (mentally) in the past. Mourn or Remember for a season, then advance into your future. You’re never leaving the past behind; you’re taking it with you in adapting to what’s coming next.
Change – Simply, take action. Don’t wait and procrastinate. Make the best choice you can with the information you have available, pull the trigger, and deal with the consequences. Taking no action when action is required is normally the worst choice possible and likely will cause more pain.
Enjoy Change! – Savor the adventure! There is so much excitement to experience with Turning Points. Find the good – be someone who always notices the best in every situation.
Be Ready to change quickly and enjoy it again – This life is a process and it often repeats patterns. “Mastering Change” is probably not going to happen, but you can learn how to handle the process better and anticipate the next time it occurs. Then enjoy it!
This life is not a dress rehearsal – this is your only shot. Drain every moment of purpose out of it – flow with the turns!
Chris Craft
The Soapbox 