Well, here we are again, starting another new year.

Two years ago at the start of the new year it was my turn to give a talk to our church women. We can pick any topic we want so I decided to talk about accepting change.

Through the years I have seen so many times when people struggled to cope with change. Some can’t accept small change, much less something of significance.

A classic example of that was when a longtime co-worker had to go on medical leave because changes the boss put into effect had her unable to eat or sleep.

“After all my years of working here I can’t believe he stabbed me in the back by ruining my workplace,” she said.

Here’s what the awful boss did to her: He moved her desk about 10 feet up front facing the door so she could better greet visitors as they came in. As our receptionist, she needed to be more aware of visitors.

My co-worker actually quit her job because she said she couldn’t accept that drastic change in her working environment.

Most of us are good at accepting small changes. It’s the big, life-changing events that cause problems.

In my talk I admitted I struggled to accept leaving all my friends and family behind when we had to move away from my beloved hometown.

As it turned out, that move did change my life, but most of the changes were greatly beneficial. Both professionally and personally my life improved in wonderful ways I could not have imagined in my old life.

One of the points I made in my talk about change was that when one door closes on us it allows for another potentially better door to open.

My point was that we all should see change as an unrealized opportunity.

Yet few of us are comfortable with change, not even when we suspect the change is needed.

My friend Chris is working in a dead-end job without benefits or a decent salary. He is super talented with incredible job skills and could get a better job anywhere. Especially now when good workers are so in demand he would improve his life by changing to a better job.

He says he suspects that’s true but he never takes the initiative to get a better job.

That is not unusual. So many of us stay in bad personal relationships or in poor jobs only because we fear making the change.

I used to think a positive attitude and a bit of personal push could propel us to benefit from change.

But sadly, we are now living in a perilous world of change that is hard to accept because there is nothing beneficial about it.

That’s all been brought about by an invasion of the dreaded enemy we know as COVID-19.

Many of us tried coping by getting vaccinated and by wearing masks. Then we were told two vaccines aren’t enough. We need a booster shot to stay safe. So we got that vaccine, too, thinking we would be protected.

Unfortunately, we’re learning from medical experts that the vaccines can’t stop the highly contagious omicron variant of COVID.

You probably have been hearing this from multiple sources since it is dominating the news.

None of us know our future. But we know change is coming and we’ll have to keep adapting.

My family had to adapt to a sad Christmas, the first time we couldn’t all be together to celebrate as a family.

At first I was the only one who had to give up on the idea of flying to Maine for a happy family Christmas. Approaching surgery forced me to stay close to home.

I told my family we would all celebrate together, but for me it would be in July, not December.

Then COVID affected our family in a big way. My grandson Grayson, who is one of the most careful guys I know, came down with COVID on the job, even though he was fully vaccinated and had a booster shot. In no way could he be with our family for Christmas.

Before we got over that blow, granddaughter Sophie also had to postpone her Christmas arrival because she was staying in quarantine until she had a negative COVID test.

With much sadness, they all had to alter Christmas plans.

We can’t control what happens to us. We can only control our reaction to it.

My daughter Andrea buried her sadness, staying positive through difficult, ever-changing circumstances.

“We have to be grateful for what we have,” she said. “We still have each other and we can get together after Christmas. Some people can’t do that.”

One of my favorite regular readers wrote to me to say I let fear rule me. Maybe. I do have a hard time balancing staying safe with continuing everyday life.

I envy my friends who haven’t let COVID stop them from socializing, eating inside restaurants or going to church and concerts.

I don’t know how COVID might change our lives once again. I don’t know what other changes the new year will bring.

But one thing I do know. We’ll have all have to pack our tool box with extra strength, a positive attitude and a strong determination to conquer whatever comes our way.

Contact Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net.