Progress and change-what's the difference?

Progress and change are one and the same thing, it's just how we look at them. Here's what I mean, progress is seen to be a good thing, you know you are progressing in your career, in your relationship, training, business, travelling. All the things that are positive, yet change is seen as something to be suspicious off because it could be bad for us, and there are many incidents of this: closing of the mining industry in the U.K, the change in governments from one party to another, same-sex marriage, free child care, de-regulation of the banking industry in the eighties was seen as a turning point in the recovery of the British economy by some, and as the beginning of the financial crisis that in still being felt in many western counties by others.

Change is always happening, if it didn't nothing would be here, not the sun, stars, earth, moon, universe, us, nothing!
Whether you believe in god or not, the first verse of the bible says this"in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth"that is change right there! Yet we are meant to fear change, yet love progress because one is good because it benefits us while the other might be bad for us because it might cost us or cause problems to us.
The mind is a one amazing machine that does so many different things at the same time while making it seem like it's easy, scientists looking for a way to get robots to work like humans have found just how complicated that is.
We teach our children to read, write, speak, walk, play a game and congratulate ourselves on their progress, never seeing it as change never looking at it in any different way than something good, something right.
If the child didn't walk, talk, read, in the set standard manner we start to look for reasons for this, not seeing the progress but the problems that we think are there.
I am thinking of children who grow at different rates, learn new skills at different times from the set norm, not children with learning difficulties, autism, physical handicaps like blindness, deafness.
Until something stops our progress, we just assume that it will be like this, even when you're getting on in your career, planning for the retirement pension, home, saving to allow you to live comfortably after work, so why should you be thinking any thing will change?
But it does, things always change, so why not accept that and think in line with it?
There is a quote that sums it up
"Hope for the best, but plan for the worse"
Some people hear me say this when things are going wrong and think that I am being pessimistic, when the opposite is true.
Being a " positive thinker" means many different things to different people. My take on it is this: having the ability to think clearly, calmly, practical, pragmatically allows you to be able to solve problems by looking at them from different angles, short-term, long-term, is this problem worth solving?
Should I go around it?
Put all my effort into in dealing with this issue?
It may not be what we call progress because it has slowed/stopped that forward momentum we expect to always be going on, but it is change, it is progress not in the forward direction but sideways, backwards even.
You haven't stopped reaching for your goal (whatever it is) you are just adjusting, adapting, being flexible to the situation by thinking differently.

Change is the only constant, how do we deal with it?

A side effect of resisting change is anger. People resist change because they are afraid of the 
unknown, and then internal resentment builds up, leading to anger. 
        This anger is often directed at some external actor, and can lead to anger addiction fear as a means of coping with the feelings of inadequacy. This can lead to a perpetual cycle of failure to change, resentment, and full-blown anger addiction.
Change is always happening yet we resist it, trying to preserve what we have, hold on to the known, resisting the unknown as long as possible.
Sometimes change seems to happen too fast, before you have had a chance to adjust to the new situation, its changed again.
Change happens all the time whether you are ready or not. We as humans are successful because we are able to adjust to changing circumstance in climate, living conditions,social relationships, environment.
We have a unique quality in that, to a certain extent we can control our environment, use tools to aid us to shape and manage that environment.
Yet we will take rubbish from are boss, are partners, people who think they are doing things in your best interest, while all the time stopping us from really taking the steps required to move ahead.
If like me you feel you are not where you want to be, it's time to take a good  hard critical look first at your self, than at your circumstance, relationships, environment, what it is you want and what is holding you back.  
Your answers may be very difficult to deal with, it may be your best friend who never says anything positive about you but expects you to cheer them up, so you are there for them to feel good about themselves at your emotional expense.
Change is something that we have to deal with, so the sooner we embrace it, use it to our advantage, the easier it will be to adapt to it.
Change can be positive or negative depending if you are in control of that change or not.
To be in charge of that change, first you have to recognize it for what it is, make a plan to navigate your way through it, having a plan will help to minimize the negative aspects while increasing the positive ones.
As a side note, many companies, institutions, religions, even countries do all they can to resist the very thing that bought them into existence in the first place...change.
Sam cooke wrote the song "A change is going to come" after hearing a song by Bob Dylan which made him realise he had something more to sing than "popcorn" songs.
Fear is there for a reason, but we can not let it be the reason for not changing things for the better, we may have to hurt those close to us to make the positive outcome we desire.
The pain will be worth it for you and for them. 
Edward Quarm