Change can be scary... but it can also expand your horizons!

Change can be scary... but it can also expand your horizons!

This last week we've noticed that some of the trees in our area are beginning to change colour - already in the middle of August!! This early reminder of the oncoming season of Fall was a bit of a shock - especially as our summer has not been one of the warmest and sunniest on record. 

It got me to reflecting upon the passing, transient nature of things - that life, itself, is defined by change. It is inevitable, because nothing really stays the same. Since change is going to happen anyway, we have a choice - to resist it, or embrace it. Or we can initiate a change of direction ourselves. 




25 years ago, today (August 15th, 1989), I immigrated from the U.K. to Canada - one of the biggest changes that I have ever chosen to bring about. The remembrance of this transition is what prompted this blog post. 

I had visited Canada on several occasions over the previous decade or so, but in 1988, I decided to stay for a longer period of time - (five weeks, in fact) and to travel out west to fulfil a dream of mine. I had seen a friend's pictures of his journey through the mountains on the Rocky Mountaineer train (then, VIA rail), and had always wanted to do that - to sit in the bubble car and take in vista after vista. 

In August, 1988, I brought that ambition into fruition, flying to Calgary and then taking the train through to Vancouver. Nothing could have prepared me for what I was to see (though one Japanese tourist told me off when she found out that I had, at that time, not been to Scotland before coming to the Rockies!!). The splendour and magnificence of the mountains - one peak after another - pierced something deep within and I know that they continue to call to me even to this day. 

My 5-day stay in Vancouver forever imprinted a love for this city in my heart and, together with the ferry trip to Victoria, marked me for life. "You had me at... lakes, trees, and mountains!"

When I returned to Toronto for my final week in Canada that year, my brother and his wife took me to visit their friends, Geoff and Sandy. I had known Geoff from way back, and it was at his kitchen table that the seed was sown about coming to live in Canada permanently. In fact, I still refer to this as the 'table of decision'! 

After I had been back in the U.K. for a month or so, I  found myself thinking - I don't want to reach the age of 60 and wonder 'what if' I had moved to Canada. Once you have reached that stage, you HAVE to go, or you'll always wonder. 

I remember some of my friends told me that they felt I was very brave to be making such a change. To be quite honest, it didn't feel that way at all. What I remember is a sense of excitement and freedom. And the inner happiness of knowing that, at the tender age of 38, I could uproot myself and redefine my life from a new perspective, in a new country. 

It was relatively easier for me than for many others - I had a roof over my head, thanks to the kindness of my brother and sister-in-law, who took me in for my first few months in Canada. I also had a secure teaching post with the Scarborough Board of Education. I also had the names and addressed of a couple of mutual friends to call upon. Nevertheless, it was still a challenge and I will always be grateful to those who helped to ease the transition - on both sides of the pond. 

To get back to what I was saying about change..... I knew that before I could embrace that which was going to be new in my life, I would have to let go of some elements that had been part of my life up until then. Familiar surroundings, culture, friendships, workplace - even aspects of language and verbal expressions  - these were all about to undergo a transformation. While I have been blessed with wonderful long-lasting friendships that are as strong as ever today.... the physical distance from those friends was a challenge to be faced. Inevitably, some of those friendships gently dissolved and I had to embrace that reality.

Of course, family is family - wherever you are - and those relationships have also deepened, in spite of the miles that separate. 




Change can be scary. There is a part of us that gets comfortable with the status quo and resists anything that 'upsets the apple cart'.

I remember that someone had said to me, in my teenage years, that when you make a change, only alter one aspect of your life - either your job, your relationship, or your where you live. He said that when you do this, you retain some continuity in life that enables you to move forward more easily. I have found this to be true. However, when you have excitement for life, it can sometimes allow you to embrace change at several levels, simultaneously. This is what happened to me, back in 1989, and I have not regretted that decision even for a moment. 

So, what's my point? 

My point is - if you are thinking about making some kind of change in your life, know that, although there are some things of which you'll need to let go, you will be making room for something new, and if you embrace the new, you'll find a new, expanded platform from which to experience the world around you.