Comments to: crs@uvm.eduReviewed as of 4/20/98
THIS DOCUMENT WAS PRODUCED BY THE NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL LEADERSHIP
PROGRAM. IT IS POSTED BY THE CENTER FOR RURAL STUDIES FOR PUBLIC
USE. THE CENTER FOR RURAL STUDIES ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR
THE CONTENTS. FOR MORE INFORMATION, REFER TO THE USERS GUIDE.
EXERCISE 2
Two Kinds of Change
An activity to discover how we have dealt with change in our lives.
Change occurs in our lives; change is a constant, a given. Some
change is planned; we bring it about, we create it. Other change
seems to happen to us, we are the recipients and not the initiators
of change. What are the differences? How do we feel about these
two kinds of changes?
How have we dealt with both these types of change in the past?
What techniques have we developed to initiate change? What skills
have we learned to help us cope with change that happens to us? Do
we embrace change or shirk from it?
> Lifeline
On a large sheet of newsprint, draw a line bisecting the long
length of the page. On the left, mark the year of your birth. On
the right, using family history as much as possible, estimate the
decade of your death. Mark off the intervening line in years and
ages (1- to 5-year intervals).
In the spaces above your lifeline, note the major events and
changes in your life, places you've lived, people who have
influenced you--in short your own history.
You may want to use different colors to indicate changes you
planned and those that happened to you. Use some symbols to
indicate good decisions and poor decisions. Ask yourself the
following kinds of questions:
Who influenced you? Who did you rely on? Did that change over
time? What has happening in the world around you? What were the
headlines, the economic trends? What impact did these have on you?
Below the line, and in the space to the right, indicate any
lifetime goals you have, indicating when you might reach them.
Use your life line to look at how you deal with change in the steps
that follow on the worksheet titled A Brief History of Change in
My Life.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF CHANGE IN MY LIFE
> Instructions: First, list some of the changes you have initiated
in your life; then list some changes that happened to you.
Below are seven changes I initiated in my life:
Oh, if I'd
Strengths Problems only known
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Here are seven changes that happened to me, I didn't initiate or
control these changes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Go back and circle the number of most important changes you
initiated. And then circle the number of the unplanned change that
had the greatest impact on you.
For each of these you have circled, write down the strengths you
demonstrated or developed in that process. Write down the biggest
problems you encountered. And for each, note what you know now
that you wish you had known then.
BACK TO THE FUTURE: WHAT CHANGES ARE AHEAD?
Now that you have constructed a brief history of change--both
types of change--in your life, let's look into a fortune teller's
crystal ball and make some educated guesses about the future.
Four changes I expect to happen, based on plans I have right now
and on my greatest hopes, are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Four changes for which I am least prepared, are:
1. Losing my job.
2. Inheriting $l00,000.
3. My doctor tells me my time is up.
4. Write your own, perhaps based on your greatest fear.
From these lists, select those with the greatest potential
impact and think about how you would either bring that change about
or cope with change. If you'd find it helpful, use Part II of the
worksheet on creating personal change to map out a strategy, or use
the one that follows.
Did you find yourself using any of the skills from your history of
dealing with and initiating change?
Comments to: crs@uvm.edu
Reviewed as of 4/20/98