Changes

I don’t like change, or the decision process involved in making a change. It’s really hard on me. I feel anxious and stressed. I do great making decisions when I can weigh “right” and “wrong,” but when there is no clear right or wrong, or it’s just a preference, I struggle.  I’m the type that typically orders the same thing when I go out to eat. I get my hair cut the same way each time and I tend to buy my jeans from the same place. I know I like it, so why run the risk of being disappointed?

I’m a creature of habit. I tend to function best when I follow the same pattern or schedule. I like to sit in the same spot in church on Sunday, I don’t like shopping at other Walmarts because the layout is different, and I get really anxious when I feel out of control. My stress at bedtime is directly related to how long past the kids’ typical bedtime it is. Some may call it obsessive compulsive. I call it maintaining sanity.

Considering how much I dislike change, it may come as a surprise that all things considered, 2020 hasn’t been that stressful for me. I’ve honestly had no idea what to expect (this is my first experience with a novel virus pandemic), and in most ways, I’ve been able to handle things as they come.

It did finally come to a head a few weeks ago. We started some major renovations on our house (and I’ve watched enough HGTV to know that the planned budget is never enough, the time frame is too short, and there’s always “bad news or worse news”). At the same time, I needed to make a decision regarding school for my children AND the gym my kids go to for gymnastics didn’t have any openings and I was having to find a new gym. We lost an educator with The EDGE and added a new one. My husband was facing some big changes in his career. Two rooms missing walls in my house. Major school and work decisions. New gymnastics gym. New coworkers. That’s a whole lot of change for someone that orders the same ice cream for months at a time.

So I found myself trying to talk through things with my husband, and I couldn’t hold the tears back anymore. I think it’s safe to say I probably wasn’t managing all the change of 2020 that well, I was just stuffing it down. I needed clear direction. I wanted to hear him say “This is the right choice.” If change is right, then it’s easier for me to accept. But that didn’t happen.

Even though I don’t like it, I can agree that some change is good. Sure, it can be scary and make us anxious, but I’ll admit it also has an element of excitement. I am pretty excited about what my house will look like after this renovation (though I’ve lost count of how many times my husband and the contractor have told me to step away from Pinterest).

And even though I don’t like it, sometimes, change is simply necessary. It's an important part of life.

The EDGE is not immune to change either. We have experienced a lot of change recently. In a short six months, we lost two educators (both Aaron and Kinsey moved on, taking positions elsewhere) and hired a new educator. Timothy Hostetler, a former student of the program, joined us at the beginning of July. He’s hit the ground running and has already started working toward his national Sexual Risk Avoidance certification. We believe he will be an asset to this program and are excited to see him in the classroom.

We are having to change and adjust what our program looks like for the upcoming school year, and honestly, we have no idea. We just know it will change. As much as we would love to be face to face (a safe 6-feet apart) with our students, we honestly don’t know if it will occur in the traditional way.

When I joined the staff of The EDGE in January 2009, one of the first projects we undertook was a massive brand redesign. I loved being a part of it, and still feel proud of what we developed all those years ago. But, we want to stay relevant. We want to continue to impact students and encourage and equip parents. And we recognize that in today's world, digital relevance changes quickly. Websites become outdated, and logos, though well loved, become well worn.

So we wanted to freshen things up a little bit, and are phasing out our aged “mountain edge” logo. But thankfully, we didn’t go crazy. It’s still the same name, and our new logo harkens back to the old one.

But even if our team has changed, our logo has changed, and how we present our program may change, we are still the same, we just look a little different. Think of it as a face lift, or really nice eye cream. Not that we think people need to get face lifts or use expensive eye cream, but if they do, it doesn't change who they are at their core. It’s the same for us. We are still The EDGE. We still believe that decisions matter. We still believe that parents are important and we still believe that today's choices impact tomorrow. We still believe in setting goals and realizing that our choices impact other people. We still encourage a risk-avoidance lifestyle, and we're still here to help.