Being, Changing, Believing.

Welcome to the Fabulous Hybrid Blog Carnival. Our topic this spring is Change! This post was written for inclusion in the quarterly Blog Carnival hosted by The Fabulous Mama Chronicles and Hybrid Rasta Mama. This month our participants reflect on change in all of its many forms. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

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As we live life, we are in a state of constant flux - life is an ever changing organism. Always something new. . . asking us to adapt and create new paths to follow.

This used to be really hard for me. I'm a type-A personality through and through. A Go-doer with a PLAN. And changes in my plan used to uproot my whole life's "ecosystem"

Change used to seriously upset things for me. Like akin to what happened to Schmidt in New Girl when Jess tried to get him loosen up a little and everything went bonkers. Schmidt may have issues. . . but "You don't mess with the ecosystem!" . . . that's how thing used to be for me.  Change just didn't work for me. I'd go crazy.

And then I became a military wife.

I had one small (small for me) freak out about the fact that if I married my [now] husband, I would definitely someday have to move away from all the plans I was making in Houston [my hometown]. It scared me.  I almost backed out of love because I was so scared about change.

And then I changed. I married my husband. We made decisions, had babies. Dealt with debt. Dealt with changing friendships. Crazy people. Life lessons. Family tensions. Made a military move.

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I adapted. I learned that not all change is bad (actually, most of it is not bad.)

I saw that change could be a powerful tool, and, in my faith-journey, I learned that not only does God want us to be open to change in His plan for us. . . 

. . . but that simply being clay in His hands is what He is calling me to do - over anything else. 

To love Him and trust Him. And allow love and circumstance to change me. For learning how it is to be organic and authentic is a huge blessing. He is always teaching, always guiding.

I just needed to have trust in Him, and follow the cues and chances he was giving me.

I found that living in an always changing, organic way was incredibly freeing and opened me up to a vibrancy in life that I hadn't seen before. 

I embraced my daughter and our breastfeeding relationship, which led me to become a peer counselor with WIC in Texas, and help numerous young families make educated, healthy decisions for their babies. I got involved with the La Leche League, and I suddenly knew what my career path would be. I wanted to help moms and babies as an IBCLC.

I made a military move, after a six month separation while my husband was in training. I made new friends. Eventually. I learned what it meant to be a Coast Guard wife attached to a Cutter. That "Tahoma never Home-a" was a literal statement albeit made in a joking way. And I adapted again. And again.

I found that an organic, ever adapting, authentic life was imperative for a military lifestyle. I wanted to keep working as a Peer Counselor. . . but didn't have any opportunities that were financially feasible in our new home. And so I mothered. I planned. Then I re-planned. and re-planned again.

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We had a new baby on the way. I learned all about natural childbirth and natural parenting. Then another change in my plan came when I had to have another induction. And I adapted my way through that kink, too. Delivering Joseph naturally despite the medically induced labor. I realized that changes in plans, even really drastic changes in really important plans - like having a baby - could be overcome by working with what you've got: That what my mom and dad had always told me as a seriously perfectionistic and panicy type-A teenager was true. 

That it's ALL about perspective.

And so, I've been continuing to meander my way through this organic authentic messy maze that is the path of my life, being me, finding myself, mothering, balancing military wife life, and making it all work. 

And if I had never accepted that change is good, and flexibility doesn't mean weakness, I probably wouldn't be sitting here writing this today. 

Well, I know I certainly wouldn't be writing this with a smile on my face, that's for sure.

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If you're feeling out-of-control (which, yes, I still do feel on occasion) or helpless and worried about changes going on in your life, my experience is that allowing change to mold you is not a bad thing. It leads to discoveries of natural rhythms and deeper relationships, better understanding, and true authenticity. To find these life lessons, you have to let go.

Whether it's God or Life that you believe in - believe. Change. Be. It's OK that you're not in control. 

Roll with the punches. See the outcome.

I bet you it's ultimately a beautiful thing.

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Visit Hybrid Rasta Mama and the Fabulous Mama Chronicles to find out how you can participate in the next Fabulous Hybrid Carnival!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants. It will be updated by 3:00pm PST on Monday. April 30th:

• Unschooling My Heart - Patti at Canadian Unschooler discovered that Unschooling her kids was EASY compared to the bigger change required to Unschool her heart.
• Change (Variety) - Rachel at Lautaret Bohemiet writes about how variety is the spice of life.
• No More Threats - Amy at Presence Parenting flips the idea of parental control through threats on its head, for good.
• Why Are You Mad??? Turn Off the T.V and Meditate - Destany of They Are All of Me discusses limiting stress by focusing more on your Inside self.
• Co-ed Sleepovers?  Changing My Mindset – Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama takes a hard look at her previous beliefs about sleepovers.
• Change Can Mean Puddles - Jorje of Momma Jorje has had to clean up some puddles after major changes.
• On Acceptance - Laura at Authentic Parenting writes about how she ditched the constant longing for change and came to accept herself as she is.
• Blissed Out on Birth, Drunk on Baby Skin - Melissa from Mothers of Change passionately explores the changes she would like to see come to the maternity care system, and our universal love of the smell of a newborn baby.
• Changing My Mindset, One Challenge at a Time - Wolfmother at Fabulous Mama Chronicles speaks candidly about her challenges in changing how she parents.
• Because Mommy Said No - Dawn of Raising Natural Kids discusses the use of a common phrase that makes Mommy out to be the bad guy when, in reality, she is making decisions out of love.
• Through Adversity We Grow - Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children chooses to take a positive view on change and growth.
• Life is Change - Rae of Ital Livin' writes about the large changes her family has made within the last year.constant in life.
• A Changing Voice - Jennifer at Our Muddy Boots discusses how in order to grow change is unavoidable.  That does not mean the process is easy though.
• Being. Changing. Believing. - Amy at Me, Mothering, and Making It All Work reminisces on the changes that have shaped her adult life thus far, and molded her into an adaptable, but still type-A, believer in change.
• Motivating Change In The Face Of Apathy - Brenna at Almost All The Truth is asking the question many of us who actively work to change the world ask ourselves: how do we get people to care?
• She Changes Everything She Touches - Change is the only thing we can count on in life, and Jen in Canada examines some of the biggest things she'd like to tackle before the birth of her second child.