Changing for the Better
Nothing stays the same
by James Lamont (revised, originally published in 2012)
Suitable for Key Stage 3
Aims
To examine the process of change and its effect upon us.
Preparation and materials
- Have available some images of people enjoying the summer and the means to display them during the assembly. Some examples are available at: https://tinyurl.com/nev22m2w
Assembly
- As the summer ends and a new season begins, many of us find ourselves being thrown into new situations. Whether we are encountering a new school, a new class, a new teacher, a new job or new classmates, autumn often means change.
- Many people fear change. Change is new and uncertain. Change can turn something comfortable and familiar into something difficult. If our life is good right now, changes can be threatening and undesirable.
Certainly, some changes can be bad. During the cost-of-living crisis, many people have been forced to change their expectations about life. Being forced into change can feel unfair. This is because many changes can feel like losses. Gone are the old expectations, the old certainties. In their place come new and challenging demands that we may not have agreed to. - Moving up a year, entering the sixth form, graduating from university or moving house offer great opportunities. However, they also involve aspects that we may be less keen on or feel concerned about.
- Our comfort zone – the actions and situations that feel secure and familiar to us – is a relaxing place. Yet our comfort zone can be as much a prison as a luxury. With comfort and familiarity may come boredom and a lack of willingness to try new things. A life spent doing the same things, eating the same meals, talking to the same people and playing the same games is not going to be totally fulfilling. Being forced to adapt to a new situation gives us new experiences. Experiences – good and bad – make life interesting.
- Bad experiences help us to learn lessons, and expand our comfort zone. We are often forced to expand our comfort zone because of sudden, possibly unwelcome changes such as an unexpected house move or a pandemic. Difficult though these sudden changes may be, we do learn lessons from facing them. We then carry these lessons into the rest of our lives.
- By living a full and varied life, we collect experiences. Without letting go of our memories and our past, we can develop as people by embracing change and looking forward to the possibilities of tomorrow.
Time for reflection
Ask the students to spend a few moments thinking about a change in their life that they perceived as unwelcome. How did it affect them?
Ask the students, ‘Did you grow personally as a result of that experience?’
Pause to allow time for thought.
Ask the students, ‘Did you make a mental note not to try it again, or did you change your mind and decide that you wanted to give it another go?’
Pause to allow time for thought.
Ask the students, ‘Have you allowed that experience to change your attitude towards that thing, even a little?’
Pause to allow time for thought.
Now ask the students to take a few moments to think about a change that has come about recently, one that they may be finding challenging.
Pause to allow time for thought.
Ask the students, ‘How could you take that experience and use it to grow as a person? How can you continue working on that positive change today?’
Pause to allow time for thought.
Song/music
‘Circle of life’ from the film The Lion King, available at: https://youtu.be/GibiNy4d4gc (4.06 minutes long)
