I don’t know about you, but I have a really hard time with change.

I have noticed this about myself the most as a mom: feeling sad when my kids were little and grew out of their baby clothes, when baseball season ends and have to say goodbye to the team, when the school year is over and my kids move up a grade – especially so last year when my oldest child graduated from high school and left home for college.

Even though I notice it most as a parent, and the inevitable changes that come watching my children grow up into adults, I also have noticed that I struggle with changes within myself as well.

I think most of us feel this way, as it is human nature to find comfort in what is familiar to us.

And, staying in the parameters of what we have become accustomed to tends to give us the illusion that we are in control of our lives and circumstances.

We tend to cling to situations, relationships, jobs, habits, and even beliefs, as when we let go of what is “known” and the established norm – well then, we are swimming in unfamiliar, uncharted territory.

Which can be very scary.

But the truth is, even if we resist change, we cannot prevent it from happening.

It is an inevitable part of life – just as the seasons change, children grow up, people die, relationships end. (Cue “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac – that song always makes me cry!)

But, because change itself is inevitable, the only thing that we can control is how we choose to view and handle this change.

It is important to recognize that the cycles of life, death, and rebirth are constantly happening to us in our daily lives.

I think that most of us (especially past a certain age, ahem…) can look back and recognize a phase of life that seems like a “past life that happened in this life”.

We do inevitably experience change and, when we can embrace it, let go, and surrender to it, we always end up exactly where we are supposed to be.

The hard part is knowing when to hold on and when to let go, but when life is pushing you to make a change – remember that you are always reincarnating.