Fear of Change

 People facing unexpected challenges in their lives often experience a great deal of fear, helplessness, and hopelessness, or they have anxiety of the unforeseeable outcome of surviving the challenging event which can lead to feelings of powerlessness and being out of control. In some cases people crumble under the challenge of surviving in every dimensions of their lives: physical, emotional and Spiritual The following is taken from Jamesjimessina.com

To help a person survive sudden change or an unexpected challenge I want to talk about spirituality. This is at one level, the way in which people understand their lives in view of their ultimate meaning and value. Many people also believe that spirituality gives a person a sense of peace, purpose, and connection to others, and gives meaning to the beliefs one has about the meaning of life. At a higher level Spirituality is a universal concept found in all cultures considered to encompass a search for existential or ultimate meaning through religion or other paths

People facing unexpected challenges or changes, often wonder about concerns related to:

·         Control – How can I retain control in my life?

·         Identity – Just who am I and who will I be once I go through this challenge in my life?

·         Relationships – What will my relationships be like once I go through this challenge in my life?

·         Meaning – What is the meaning of my life now that I am facing this unexpected challenge in my life?

In his groundbreaking work Man’s Search for Meaning-An Introduction to Logotherapy (Frankl, 1963) Frankl, who survived life in a concentration camp in which he lost all of those people he loved, gave us an insight into the spiritual issues faced by people challenged by the unexpected in life:

1.    “That which does not kill me, makes me stronger”-Nietzsche quoted by Frankl

2.    “Suffering will not destroy humans; rather suffering without meaning destroys”

3.     Love "is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire."  (1963, pp. 58-59)

4.    "Humor was another of the soul's weapons in the fight for self-preservation."   (1963, p. 68)

5.    "...everything can be taken from a man but one thing:  the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."  (1963, p. 104)

6.    “(T)here is also purpose in that life which is almost barren of both creation and enjoyment and which admits of but one possibility of high moral behavior:  namely, in man's attitude to his existence, and existence restricted by external forces....  Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.”  (1963, p. 106)

7.    Man "can only live by looking to the future." (1963 , p. 115) 

8.    "The prisoner who had lost faith in the future -- his future -- was doomed." (1963, p. 117)

9.    “He who has a why to live for, can bear with almost any how." (Friedrich Nietzsche, quoted in 1963, p. 121)

10. "Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible." (1963 , p. 172)