Thank You, Facebook, for Testing My Resolve

A few days ago, my sister and I were talking about back-to-school time and a major change in my routine this year. For a long time now, I’ve been accustomed to having several quiet hours in my day to get things done while the kids were in school. Suddenly, all of that has changed. Due to fluctuating work and school schedules for my older kids, I find myself with precious little time alone these days. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, and yet I’m having a heck of a time adjusting. My resistance to it has left me positively lethargic. I’m accomplishing…. Nothing.

Change is hard.

My sister, having been through all of this already, shared these words of sisterly wisdom. “You’re just going through an adjustment period. It’ll get better.”

And I guess it really is as simple as that. Life is a series of never-ending changes. You can dig your heels in and resist, making yourself miserable in the process, or accept the change and get on with it. And so, I resolved to look for the good in this change and see if it doesn’t speed along the process of acceptance and moving forward. So far, so good.

Ironically, a few days later the Facebook community exploded in protest over major changes to Facebook. Irate status updates on privacy issues and general confusion over the new layout streamed down my home page like a wordy waterfall. Facebook jokes abounded. The next day, Facebook made national news on all the major TV networks, due to the level of discontent. (Can’t beat that kind of advertising… I wonder how many people joined Facebook that day, just to see what all the fuss was about?)

Change is hard.

We Facebookers are in for yet another adjustment period, but I’m thinking this change needn’t be so all-consuming, or even aggravating, really. Compared to the really major changes is life, this is miniscule. Give it time. If it’s like so many Facebook changes in the past, we’ll quickly adjust and either love the new format, not-so-much-love-but-tolerate the new format, or begin the oft-predicted mass exodus to "Google Plus." LoL

Either way, learning the new Facebook is easier than learning how to work around here with sidekicks. I think I can handle it.