Nov 18, 2016 08:40 AM EST By Beth Golden, UniversityHerald Reporter

Making a big change is never easy. Whether it's quitting unhealthy habits, working better with your studies or taking that class you've always avoided. If it were easy, you would have done it all already. Changing something, big or small, sometimes require more than just the resolve to get it done.

Think about it, what's been preventing you all this time?

While there are those who can make change happen in an instant, those who can decide and it's done, for most of us it's less magical and far more complicated. So if you're finding that making big changes happen is not working for you at the moment then consider the following:

• Embrace the uncertainty. We all have plans and by now you know that even the best laid plans don't always deliver the desired results. Unexpected things happen along the way and sometimes, we need to abandon the plan and improvise. This is true with a student's life in the university as it is everywhere else. Learn to accept the uncertain, sometimes you may need to change the plan because the goal has changed or sometimes, you just need to change the plan but the goal remains the same.

• Be open to possibilities. Embracing the uncertainties will help you see each event as it is instead of an obstacle. It may still be an obstacle that keeps you from achieving the change you wanted to make but consider the possibilities and opportunities it offers. Writing it down may help you plot your options and the benefits and disadvantages of each. Entertain and explore each idea and how it can get you closer to where you want to go.

• It's okay to fall for false starts. It's not a failure to launch, it's just probably not the best time. When this happens, don't lose hope or feel bad. Go back to the drawing board, revisit your journal and your ideas, did you even have a plan to begin with? If not, this is the best time to plot out the course and milestones of your event.

• Step up with each setback. Change requires work and the bigger the change you want to make, the more work you need to put into it. Most success stories will tell you of the challenges and disappointments that came with the process, but they will also tell you it was all worth it.
• Reflect on it. Sometimes, especially among young people, they feel the urge to change themselves for acceptance and approval. While there is nothing wrong with altering bits and pieces of who you are in order to belong, make sure you're doing so because you truly wanted to and not because you felt compelled to do so to be one of the gang. Remember the most important person who needs to accept you is you

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