Here’s the thing about change: it doesn’t wait for you to be ready. It just… shows up. Like that one friend who always brings their new situationship to brunch without warning.

And for a lot of us millennials, especially those of us healing from not-so-great pasts, change can feel less like a fresh start and more like a personal attack. We like knowing things. We like predictability. We like routines, even if our executive dysfunction keeps us from following them.

But over the last couple of years—and through many, many therapy sessions—I’ve started learning how to prepare for change in a way that doesn’t trigger my inner alarm system. Whether it's the shift into a new season, a job change, or just the chaos of the new school year energy in the air (yes, even if you’re 37 and not in school anymore, we still feel it), there are ways to meet change without falling apart.