Recently after getting married, I heard a spot on the local
Christian radio station talking about Life Change Units (LCUs). Of course it
interested me, since I myself had just undertaken quite a few changes in my
life (moving to a new area, new job, new marriage, new friends, new church, new
extended family – you get the idea). And so I went to the “source of all
knowledge” and looked up ‘life change units’ online. I found that different
events in life are rated differently, based on the impact they have on the
routines we’ve established and how much readjustment they require. Here are
some examples:
Event
|
LCU
|
Death of close family member
|
63
|
Marriage
|
50
|
Change in health of family member
|
44
|
Pregnancy
|
40
|
Business readjustment (new job)
|
39
|
Change in responsibilities at work
|
29
|
Son or daughter leaving home
|
29
|
Begin or end school
|
26
|
Change in work hours or conditions
|
20
|
Change in residence (move)
|
20
|
Change in number of family get-togethers
|
15
|
Christmas approaching
|
12
|
Overall, I found
the study that resulted in this scale very interesting. The point of the study
done by Holmes and Rahe was to find a correlation between stressful life events
and illness. I’m not sure that my overall score was high enough to correlate to
a high percentage possibility of illness, but it did help validate that changes
in our lives are significant and strongly impact how we function in life.
What did I learn through these adjustments? That there will always be adjustments in life - some big and some little. That sometimes we need someone on the outside to help give us perspective into the changes that we are experiencing. That there are times when it's okay to hold firm to things that are of high importance personally, but there are other times when I need to be flexible. That I need to assess the things that I think are important, in order to determine what I'm willing to give up for it - is it worth compromising a relationship? That adjustments take patience. Sometimes they are resolved in another adjustment, that brings more resolution. Other times, it just takes more patience. That adjustments require hard work as well as letting go. And that trust and hope are some of the strongest allies in making it through the adjustments of life.
What did I learn through these adjustments? That there will always be adjustments in life - some big and some little. That sometimes we need someone on the outside to help give us perspective into the changes that we are experiencing. That there are times when it's okay to hold firm to things that are of high importance personally, but there are other times when I need to be flexible. That I need to assess the things that I think are important, in order to determine what I'm willing to give up for it - is it worth compromising a relationship? That adjustments take patience. Sometimes they are resolved in another adjustment, that brings more resolution. Other times, it just takes more patience. That adjustments require hard work as well as letting go. And that trust and hope are some of the strongest allies in making it through the adjustments of life.
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