As human beings we often find change challenging – it might be because our lizard brain goes into fight, flight or freeze mode when there’s an inkling of uncertainty, or maybe it’s because our security might be at risk which according to Maslow will impact the rest of our needs or it might just be a personality thing – who knows?

Lots, I mean lots of change happened in a very short period of time for me recently. The company I worked for, a small social enterprise ended its contract with a huge corporate and the huge corporate took all the staff under it’s well established, grown up wing. At first it felt really uncomfortable – we joked we had been dumped on Valentine’s Day (we got told on the 14th February). The company we were so loyal to decided it would make that decision for us. But what felt really uncomfortable for me wasn’t working for a huge corporate – in my mind if I still have the same why and working for a different company allows me to still work towards that why then I am fine (in this case that’s what happened) – it was having that control over my future be decided by other people.

In a past naïve relationship this had happened to me – choice had been taken away from me. I won’t go into detail but someone close to me stopped me from being me – I wasn’t allowed to be the independent woman I am because he felt threatened. He needed that control and I was his chess piece. I promised myself that I would never allow anybody to do this to me again. But I just did.

In life, whether right or wrong, some decisions are made for us. I have realised recently that change isn’t an issue for me – uncertainty is the issue. I’m extremely happy with the place I find myself in – I am really enjoying where I work, the job I do and the people I help everyday – our customers, the entrepreneurs in our Entrepreneur Accelerator hubs. However, when we are presented with uncertainty and those around us are also uncertain it’s going to feel uncomfortable because an element of control has been lost. How did I deal with this? Probably not at well as I could have but like previous uncertain situations I have found myself in I have tried to take back control where I can – I am now part of a large corporate with opportunities arising left, right and centre. My extremely geeky inner self has to hold herself back because this new place I have found myself in will accelerate me to where I want to be – it’s now about being strategic with what I get involved in and making sure I stick to my why every day.

Any change or uncertainty you find yourself in you need to make sure it’s right for you – sounds obvious right? Unfortunately there are so many people in this world who have decisions made for them and they, because of the circumstance they are in, don’t have much control over it. But if you are reading this blog you probably do have the choice to reach out and grab the opportunities in whatever situation you find yourself in – but you need to start by making a choice. Don’t wait for someone else to make it for you or for it to land on your doorstep. You don’t understand how many people say “Jodie – you are really lucky you know”. No, I’m not lucky. I grabbed the opportunities when they came sailing past…make sure you do the same.