Anxiety, OCD and Trauma: Taking Time to Adjust to Newness (+ 4 Tips)

I got new glasses. I hadn’t bought new frames since 2007. Needless to say, they were long overdue. But adjusting to new things is never easy for me. 

I don’t know what it is about newness that’s difficult. Sure it’s change, but it’s beyond that. It’s like the newness somehow makes me feel physically uncomfortable. In my skin. In my bones. Like I’m unsafe. 

Most of the time when I buy new things, they sit for a while. It’s like I need to use them, but I can’t yet. I need time to adjust to them. To be okay with them. To introduce them into my life. This goes for anything new. A new job can even make me feel this way, for example. 

It’s like the newness disturbs me. Disrupts my thoughts. Like, no matter what I try, I can’t seem to be okay with the newness. 

This doesn’t become a problem until the newness is something I have to do or use. Like when I got a new car. Or like my new glasses. 

I find it takes time and patience with myself to adjust to the newness. To feel safe in it. And to accept it. 

So if you’re like me and it takes you time to adjust to something new, here are some tips:

• Try to imagine the newness entering your life. Envision it. See the change.
• Create vision boards or mood boards. They will help you see what you want to welcome into your life and adjust to it before it happens.  
• Move your body. It may sound silly that you should move to incorporate something new, but it’ll help your nervous system adjust. 
• Distract yourself. Often when adjusting to something new, it’s all I can think about. I obsess. Focus on it. And dwell. I find that distracting myself from it helps me forget about it, allowing me to adjust to the newness naturally. 

However you adjust to newness in your life, may you feel safe and comfortable and learn to embrace it. 

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Photo by Andrea Piacquadio