The second stage of change is contemplation. We’re still not ready to take action, but we are more serious about considering change. When my husband and I first started talking about downsizing, it was more like daydreaming than developing a strategic plan. But the daydreaming was a good beginning.
Thanks to our daughter, we had access to information that added substance to our conversations. No longer were we talking about fantasy living — I want to live at the beach, he wants to live on a golf course. Instead, we were moved into actual contemplation of change.
If we move, we actually have to go to the effort to move out of the house we’re in. We talked about this with all of our adult children, and our youngest responded: “Who will pack up all my childhood memories?” Ouch.
In pre-contemplation, we don’t think about childhood memories or our neighbors who are our dear friends. We don’t think about what it would mean to have new neighbors or leave the daily interaction born from over 30 years of proximity and deep, abiding friendship with our neighborhood.
In contemplation, however, we begin to ask questions. We consider the answers. Maybe we do a little research, not much really, just a bit. We talk more about our issue than we actually think about it and we certainly don’t CHANGE anything.
Is there anything you are contemplating changing in your life? If so, what could you do to either continue to contemplate OR make the decision that you are not ready to embark on any kind of change regarding this issue?
If we know that about ourselves, maybe we free up space to feel and think and do something about an issue we are ready to tackle. We eventually chose to renovate our home rather than move. It was a great decision and we are very pleased. But part of our contentment with our decision is because we took time to go through the stages of change with purpose and intention. What do you want to get more intentional about?
