Changing It or Choosing It: The Swap That Growth Loves

by

“Chang­ing It or Choos­ing It: If you’re not chang­ing it, you’re choos­ing it—but if you are chang­ing it, you’re los­ing it—to gain some­thing bet­ter. Growth loves a good swap!”
~ Note to Self Chron­i­cles—TonyBrigmon.com 

Let’s talk about that thing in your life—the soul-suck­ing job, the rela­tion­ship that feels more hostage sit­u­a­tion than hap­py, or Mount Laun­dry, offi­cial­ly declared a nation­al land­mark in your home.

Here’s the hard truth wrapped in a soft hood­ie:

If you’re not chang­ing it, you’re choos­ing it.

And if you are chang­ing it? Yes, you’re los­ing some­thing… but only to make space for some­thing bet­ter.

Growth? Oh, it’s a swa­pa­holic. Let’s unpack.

1. Stuck… or Just Choos­ing Safe?

Inac­tion isn’t neu­tral. It’s a deci­sion in yoga pants, scrolling Tik­Tok with a side of denial.

Take Tom. Every Sun­day night, he treat­ed Mon­day like The Return of Jobzil­la.

Did he look for some­thing bet­ter? Nope. He mar­i­nat­ed in mis­ery like it was a lifestyle.

We’ve all been Tom. Why?

Because even the mis­er­able known feels safer than the ter­ri­fy­ing unknown.

But here’s the twist:

“No choice” is often just code for “too tired to choose.”

Self-check: If you’re not chang­ing it… are you actu­al­ly choos­ing it?

2. Growth Asks for Payment—So Does Stag­na­tion

Growth always asks for pay­ment. But spoil­er alert: stag­na­tion sends a bill, too.

Quit the job that eats your soul? You might lose a pay­check—but gain peace and the abil­i­ty to unclench your jaw.

❌ End a drain­ing friend­ship? You lose a vent bud­dy. You gain emo­tion­al oxy­gen.

The math nev­er lies: Some­thing has to go to make room for bet­ter.

3. Swap­ping Com­fort for Some­thing Greater

Change feels like loss at first—like rear­rang­ing fur­ni­ture—you’re knee-deep in chaos before it starts to make sense.

Take Amy. Her rela­tion­ship had flat­lined.

When she final­ly walked away, it was qui­et. Lone­ly. Weird.

But soon? She found peace, joy, new friends, and some­one who actu­al­ly laughed at her weird lla­ma impres­sions. (Hey, love comes in all shapes and snorts.)

Her trade? Com­fort for a come­back.

So, if you’re in that awk­ward, messy mid­dle—hang tight. Growth is just clear­ing the run­way.

The FUNome­nal™ Finale: This Week’s Chal­lenge

Name one thing you’ve been tol­er­at­ing. Decide your next step.

Will you choose it or change it?

Growth is wait­ing for your RSVP.

✍️ Note to Self: Growth is a trade-up. If you’re hold­ing on to what no longer serves you, ask: What am I will­ing to lose to gain some­thing bet­ter?

— Con­tent cre­at­ed with human heart & AI assis­tance ✨ —

About Tony Brig­mon

Tony Brig­mon | Speak­er—Emcee | TonyBrigmon.com

Tony Brig­mon is a par­ty ani­mal. He’s been known to stay up well past nine o’clock drink­ing root beer and telling G‑rated jokes. Sure, the neigh­bors com­plain, but that does­n’t stop him. Because Tony is seri­ous about hav­ing fun. Seri­ous fun, with seri­ous results.

As a result of his ques­tion­able spelling skills, Tony learned at an ear­ly age that his name spelled back­ward is “YNOT.” As in, “YNOT take a clos­er look at his book?” Or, “YNOT smile when you should be cry­ing?”

Tony was a South­west Air­lines “Insid­er” and the for­mer “face” of their renowned cul­ture as their offi­cial “Ambas­sador of Fun” dur­ing their Gold­en Era. At South­west Air­lines, “fun” was the pow­er of “pos­i­tiv­i­ty” that helped cat­a­pult a small car­ri­er into a force that changed the air­line indus­try.

Today, Tony is a pop­u­lar speak­er, emcee, and author of The FUNom­e­nal™ Work­place. (FUNom­e­nal™ is pro­nounced the same as phe­nom­e­nal but it’s a lot more FUN.)

For­mer CEO of South­west Air­lines, Howard Put­nam, says, “Tony has a gift for blend­ing fun and cap­tur­ing ideas in a man­ner that sticks for audi­ences.” Tony’s friends say that no one should have so much fun while sober. Tony’s wife said she has had about all the cheer­ful­ness she can stand.

“Fun” trans­formed this author’s work and life. YNOT dis­cov­er if the seri­ous pow­er of fun can trans­form the next 30 sec­onds of your day or 30 years of your life?

YNOT arrange to have Tony Brig­mon teach you and your team how the pow­er of fun can help you get more done, bring out the best in every­one, and make you irre­sistibly attrac­tive in your com­mu­ni­ca­tion with oth­ers. You can do this. So, YNOT?