By Pattie Mihalik

newsgirl@comcast.netHow well do you handle change?Most of us don't like change and many of us resist it as much as we can.Human nature seems to be more comfortable with what is rather than what could be. It's the comfort of what is familiar that has us clinging to established routine.That might be true of some of our animal friends, too. A friend of mine has always crated her dogs at night. When one old dog died, she changed the routine for her two remaining pups.Instead of putting them in their cages at night, she brought them into her bedroom and put them on big, comfortable doggy beds.They didn't take to their new routine.Every night when she settled down in the bedroom with her dogs, it didn't take long for them to leave her room and crawl into their old cages.She thought that with time, they would get used to sleeping in her bedroom in their big doggy beds. So far it hasn't happened.There's a little birdie that sits in my yard that seems to thrive on routine. There's a yard filled with trees but every single day that little bird sits on the highest branch of one dead tree.For a while, I thought the bird might be fake because whenever I looked up at the tree the bird was like a statue on the dead branch, always in the same place.For two years, whenever I came home I looked up at the dead branch. Sure enough, the bird was just sitting there, alone as usual.This week the bird finally left its familiar perch and went to party with other birds in the front yard. I was happy to see the change.But the next morning, there was my little birdie back on its dead branch. It's been there ever since. Even birds can be creatures of habit.That little birdie reminds me not to resist change, which I was tempted to do this week. But I know from experience that surprisingly good things happen when we embrace change.So many wonderful things have come my way when I was open to both large and small changes.Some find change of any kind too unsettling. One friend who has an all-consuming job she hates is now in a position where she can work for another company. She says she hesitates to make the change."There's something about staying with the devil you know rather than taking a chance on the unknown," she said.Most of us are creatures of habit. We claim we welcome change, but that's not true for many of us. Sometimes, the smallest change throws some people for a loop.I saw that firsthand when my husband and I were checking into a dinner dance. The two volunteers at the reception table were there to check us in and tell us at which table we were assigned.It's the same routine with the same volunteers every month - except this month.One usually organized volunteer seemed to be having a hard time doing the simple task of checking us off her list and giving us our assigned table. Plus, she was in a really foul mood.When I asked for her phone number so I could make arrangements to do the story she requested, she snapped at me: "Not now! I'm too upset," she said.Her co-worker laughed and gave us an explanation: "She can't handle change. Any change in routine throws her off," said the co-worker.The surprise for me was that the "change" that caused the woman's bad mood was that the reception desk was moved from the center of the hall to an alcove at the end.It didn't seem like much of a change to me. That incident made me recall what happened when the boss at one of my former newspapers changed the seating in the office. One woman who sat in the back of the office for years was moved to the front desk. She cried so much when she was told about the change that she had to leave for the day.The next day she said her "nerves were acting up so much" and she had to take a leave of absence.She simply couldn't handle change of any kind.Change often isn't easy.The biggest change I found the courage to make came when I moved from Pennsylvania to Florida. I left behind a wonderful support system of friends that I cherish to move to a new place where I knew absolutely no one.I had no family here, no friends, no support system of any kind.I knew nothing about the area where I moved and couldn't even find my way to Walmart or the grocery store. I had to keep asking for directions and even that didn't keep me from getting lost the first time I ventured out at night.But I can honestly say I never regretted making the change. The happiness I've found in my new life here was hard to imagine until I found the courage to make the change.In life, we are all sometimes standing on one side of a door, not knowing what is on the other side.Are you the type who can open that door?Or, do you thrive best with the status quo?Contact Pattie Mihalik at

newsgirl@comcast.net.