DOI: 10.1097/SGA.0000000000000060

,  

,  

PMID: 25078039

Issn Print: 1042-895X

Publication Date: 2014/07/01


Print

I DON'T LIKE CHANGE

Kathy A. Baker

    loading  Checking for direct PDF access through Ovid

Excerpt

I don't like change. Maybe it is because it is the end of the day and I am exhausted, but I just can't shake my frustration. I don't like change. My office building at the university is undergoing change. We are adding a huge extension to the building. I had to move out of my office into a temporary office with four other colleagues, all of them dear friends, but I don't like change. My files are in boxes stacked around my desk. I reach for a simple office tool like a stapler, but I don't know where it is now. I don't have any drawers in my “desk.” It's really just a flat table with wheels. I don't like change.
When I come or leave my office building now, I can't use the sidewalk. The convenient entry door by the parking lot and elevator is blocked off as well. The sidewalk is impassable with a fence across the walk because the renovation materials from the third floor of the old building have to be dumped out a window on that side of the building. I am supposed to walk through the building next door, swing west of our building, and then come back east to avoid the blocked sidewalk. The elevator is off limits so I can't take anything heavy to work in my rolling backpack because there is only stair access to my office. Do you know of any academician who doesn't need to carry heavy papers and books back and forth from their office to home? Seriously, I don't like change.
I did enjoy the change of our new format for the SGNA Annual Course. I liked that we went three full days with Wednesday now flexible for travelling. We don't all bolt for the airport at the same time and it's easier to get a cab. Plus, those of you who know me know how I hate getting up early. Now I can have a leisure morning before heading home after a fantastic meeting with my gastroenterology nursing colleagues from across the United States and abroad. So, maybe I do like some change.
In the practice setting, I always love when the new gastroenterology fellows start. It's exciting getting to know them, their personalities, professional goals, and idiosyncrasies. I love how they change over time from excited novices to calm, confident practitioners. And when I think about it, I do enjoy the beginning of a new semester in academia. A fresh start with different students, new revisions to my courses, new textbooks, new formats... change.
I guess the real truth is sometimes I don't like change, and yet sometimes I do. Unexpected change seems to get old quickly. Spending energy to adapt to things I didn't ask for or expect is a drain. Planned change, on the other hand, I perceive as fun or exciting. Usually my planned change leads to an expected outcome, whereas unplanned change results in an outcome that is unknown or unwanted.
I also have to admit that one of the reasons I have always loved nursing is that there is, well ... constant change. I am never bored. I am always learning. Gastroenterology endoscopy is like that—new procedures, new patients, new therapies. There is never a dull moment. There is always something new to learn and master. I suppose this does sound as if I like change.
So how do I manage the unplanned change that I don't like? How do any of us adapt to the change that constantly invades our space and diverts our attention from the things we want to enjoy? Baber (http://www.positive-changes-coach.com/how-to-deal-with-change.
    loading  Loading Related Articles