One of my rollator wheels broke this past week. After a few days of frantic searching, the vendor who sold me the rollator found replacement wheels. (I also have generic wheels coming, that might or might not fit.)
I’m on another freaking change journey.
While this change journey is relatively small, it’s significant. I have upcoming travel and the thought of navigating with new rollator wheels or just-changed wheels gives me the willies. The risks are very high.
I craved a direct route to the end result: Take a day to buy wheels, install them, make sure they work, and it’s “all set.” That’s wishful thinking. (See Where Are You in Your Changes? for the explanation of this image and the other change model image below.)
But very few change journeys are like that. Even this one required hours of searching and calls to get what I need. Worse, I don’t know if I have what I need and I won’t know until everything gets here. (I have two rollators, one for the house and one for travel, so I still have the ability to navigate.)
That’s just like what happens to all of us. While my rollator only affects me (and any whining I do to Mark), most of us want to just finish that journey. We don’t want to embrace the journey. We want the direct route.
When change happens to us, we want the direct route to a reasonable outcome.
Even if we choose change, we might still want that direct route. However, if we can embrace the change journey, we might find other benefits.
Benefits of the Change Journey
Change allows or encourages us to learn as we explore possibilities.
I never thought about my rollator wheels as caster wheels, but they do share some properties I had not yet considered. While I am definitely not a wheel or caster expert, I understand a lot more about wheels now. At some point, I will have to buy a new rollator, and I have more data about what I do and do not want for wheels.
Even better, I’ve now seen many new rollators (carbon fiber frames!!) with big wheels that would make it even easier for me to walk. (I use the rollator because I have very little balance, so walking ease is essential to me.) And I understand the role of the various wheel materials.
When we embrace the change journey, we can learn. Sometimes, that learning looks “irrelevant.” But I know the value of serendipity, where seemingly unconnected pieces of information “magically” appear when you need them.
There’s a great book about this indirect route to goals. It’s Obliquity: Why Our Goals Are Best Achieved Indirectly, by John Hay. (That’s my affiliate link to Amazon.)
The more we “wander,” searching for the “right” transforming idea, the more we can learn. We might learn more about this problem. Or, as in my case, I’ve learned a lot about possibly futures.
While I’m not sure “embrace” is the best word in front of change journey, I do appreciate the opportunity to learn and integrate new ideas. That’s what I’ll embrace.
That’s the question this week: How can we embrace the change journey instead of craving the direct route?
Although not always fun 😌 , the learnings opportunity helps us know what works, what didn’t and what to try next time!
Hope the generic wheels come soon and they work out. All the best in your travel, Johanna!
Thank you, Toyin!