It’s been a long time since we’ve had change of this magnitude in our lives. Well, that’s not really true – having the Littles was certainly a huge change, but even so, it’s been at least 6 1\/2 years. Change is a funny thing. Some people love it, some people hate it. Some do it easily, some cannot deal with it at all. I would say Steve and I are a pretty good balance. We handle it pretty well, and actually look upon it as a good and needed new adventure. While it can be stressful, we do our best to remain positive and upbeat about it, and also tend to get quite a few laughs in during the process. I also tend to worry a lot, but that just motivates me to power through what needs to be done.<\/p>\n

What is rather remarkable, though, is the way\u00a0other people<\/em> handle our change. Seriously, it’s so interesting! As a psych major, I guess I’ve always been intrigued by how people behave and react to certain things, and then I try to figure out where the reaction is coming from. Sometimes it’s obvious, and sometimes I’m baffled. And sometimes I’m disappointed.<\/p>\n

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So I thought I’d jot down some of the reactions we’ve encountered so that I will remember them the next time we have a major change, and then I won’t let myself be surprised when some of these present themselves. If you are reading this, you may recognize some of these from changes in your own life! I do believe they have more to do with the person reacting than with us personally. So here goes…<\/p>\n

1. Genuine joy, elation, excitement!<\/em><\/strong> <\/span>LOVE this one, of course! These are the people who we know truly love us, support us, and know the struggles and joys we’ve had over the years. It also includes our closest friends down in Texas, because they are truly excited we’re coming back!<\/p>\n

2. Genuinely happy, but sad at the same time – the “Bittersweet!”<\/strong><\/em><\/span> I love this one too! These are our family and friends who are genuinely happy for us\u00a0and\u00a0support us but are sad that we will be leaving the area. We have made such wonderful new friends here, and I will miss all of them and the chance to build closer relationships over more time. Truly, we are grateful.<\/p>\n

3. The “Bewildered.”<\/strong><\/em><\/span> The ones who just look as us like we’ve lost our minds, and ask questions like, “what do you mean, you just ‘decided’ to move?” “Who does that?” This one is kind of funny to me!<\/p>\n

4. The “Inspired.”<\/strong><\/em> <\/span>Those who are inspired to rethink their own situation and life and location – who suddenly realize through our experiences that they could do it too! I love when it gets people thinking!<\/p>\n

4. The “Debbie Downers.”<\/strong><\/em><\/span> “Oh, it’s so hot down there!” “You know the entire state just flooded! Yes, the entire state!” “I could never live there – there are no seasons!” “Watch out for all those tornadoes!”\u00a0Need I say more?<\/p>\n

5. The “Haters.”<\/strong><\/em><\/span> These are the people I’m most sad for. You know, the ones who really just cannot be happy for anyone, no matter what? The ones at work that I know are secretly planning which office supplies they will confiscate from my desk once I’ve made my final exit? The ones who have absolutely nothing to say – and I mean nothing. Like they just quit talking to you. And the saddest part about this group is that they don’t know what they are missing out on! I mean, come on – we are FUN!<\/p>\n

I think that’s all so far – if I think of more I’ll add to the comments. Onward and upward! Focusing on the positive and all of the amazing people we have in our lives that are allowing themselves to share in our joy. We are truly grateful for all of you, and look forward to long (even if long-distance) loving relationships with you!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Join in the conversation! Register and comment! Love to hear your thoughts – any others you can think of?<\/p>\n

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It’s been a long time since we’ve had change of this magnitude in our lives. Well, that’s not really true – having the Littles was certainly a huge change, but even so, it’s been at least 6 1\/2 years. Change is a funny thing. Some people love it, some people hate it. Some do it easily, some cannot deal with… Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-mommy-challenges","category-mommy-nostalgia","post_format-post-format-gallery","xfolkentry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4JTq8-3w","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingthelittles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingthelittles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingthelittles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingthelittles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingthelittles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/livingthelittles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225,"href":"https:\/\/livingthelittles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218\/revisions\/225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livingthelittles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingthelittles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livingthelittles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}