ChangingChange
Variety is the spice of life. Or so the saying goes.
Most people are content to live a life of routine. One day sort of blends into the next day. Variety? It usually comes as a surprise. It's like you're standing on the same street corner you were standing on yesterday and the day before that. Then, one day, something is different. Something doesn't look the same or feel the same. Something is out of kilter, and who you were those days before is not who you are now. You try to readjust everything, get it all back to normal, but the more you try, the more peculiar it feels. You've changed, and you can't even explain what that is. You've somehow stepped or stumbled from before into an unshakable after. You may not like it, but there's no turning back.
I think change is important. It helps you grow as a person. So many people live lives of quiet resignation, folks satisfied with what is comfortable.
Change is never comfortable. It upsets the little brain waves in your head, because it asks you to be someone different from yourself, if only in some little way.
When asked if there is something they would change in their lives, most people will say that there is. In fact, when I conducted a survey in the gym yesterday morning, one out of one person confirmed my suspicions. People want to change. Unfortunately, most don't know how to change.
Oh sure, they know how to dye their hair, lose a few pounds, stop watching Jerry Springer, try sweet potato fries instead of the customary plain French fries, and stuff like that, but most people don't know how to change the BIG things in their lives.
What are the BIG things?
I don't know. Buying a big house? Changing careers? Moving across the country? Getting married? Getting out of a crappy marriage? These seem like pretty big things to me, and big things require that extra strength of will that many people just don't seem to be able to find. Big things don't just make you uncomfortable, they make you very uncomfortable. Big things are a big gamble, and not everyone is ready to roll the dice.
Young people seem to make big changes more readily than older people. I love to watch my children change, usually for the better. And that in itself is a big change for me.
For the longest time, I never wanted my kids to change. I wanted them to stay young, but now I'm glad they have become adults with lives very separate from mine. I miss being the "Dad," the master of all things big and small and essentially the director of the film that was once their lives, but I don't mind sitting in the fifth row now, and just watching the movie unfold. So far, the script has been pretty good, not without its scary moments where the soundtrack goes berserk and lifts you out of your seat, but I'm anticipating a happy ending, even if I'm not around to see it when the curtain falls.
Variety is the spice of life. Or so the saying goes.
Most people are content to live a life of routine. One day sort of blends into the next day. Variety? It usually comes as a surprise. It's like you're standing on the same street corner you were standing on yesterday and the day before that. Then, one day, something is different. Something doesn't look the same or feel the same. Something is out of kilter, and who you were those days before is not who you are now. You try to readjust everything, get it all back to normal, but the more you try, the more peculiar it feels. You've changed, and you can't even explain what that is. You've somehow stepped or stumbled from before into an unshakable after. You may not like it, but there's no turning back.
I think change is important. It helps you grow as a person. So many people live lives of quiet resignation, folks satisfied with what is comfortable.
Change is never comfortable. It upsets the little brain waves in your head, because it asks you to be someone different from yourself, if only in some little way.
When asked if there is something they would change in their lives, most people will say that there is. In fact, when I conducted a survey in the gym yesterday morning, one out of one person confirmed my suspicions. People want to change. Unfortunately, most don't know how to change.
Oh sure, they know how to dye their hair, lose a few pounds, stop watching Jerry Springer, try sweet potato fries instead of the customary plain French fries, and stuff like that, but most people don't know how to change the BIG things in their lives.
What are the BIG things?
I don't know. Buying a big house? Changing careers? Moving across the country? Getting married? Getting out of a crappy marriage? These seem like pretty big things to me, and big things require that extra strength of will that many people just don't seem to be able to find. Big things don't just make you uncomfortable, they make you very uncomfortable. Big things are a big gamble, and not everyone is ready to roll the dice.
Young people seem to make big changes more readily than older people. I love to watch my children change, usually for the better. And that in itself is a big change for me.
For the longest time, I never wanted my kids to change. I wanted them to stay young, but now I'm glad they have become adults with lives very separate from mine. I miss being the "Dad," the master of all things big and small and essentially the director of the film that was once their lives, but I don't mind sitting in the fifth row now, and just watching the movie unfold. So far, the script has been pretty good, not without its scary moments where the soundtrack goes berserk and lifts you out of your seat, but I'm anticipating a happy ending, even if I'm not around to see it when the curtain falls.
I never used to like that old cliche "change is good" because it isn't ALWAYS good, but alas(in my old age) I have changed! I now like that cliche. Maybe now my glass is half full...
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe your glass is half-full, but is that a Beaujolais?
DeleteActually I don't drink wine too often however I do like Beaujolais :P
DeleteChange IS hard--unless it's the change from cloudy to sunshine, or work to a day off, or something similarly insignificant. For me, change is VERY hard. I can number the times on one hand, usually when backed into a figurative corner.
ReplyDeleteThe more that I think about this, the more I suspect we change in ways that we are not even based on conscious decisions we make. Our social environment has a way of making subtle changes in our lives, some of which we might not agree with.
DeleteWell a lot here to ponder. I have made a lot of changes in my life over the years I have been alive. I've moved several times , three of those to different parts of the country. Change can be stressful, but exciting. I'm not afraid of change really, but sometimes one has to weigh the pros and cons and consider the effects of this desired change on other people around you. For me, any big change would affect my family in one way or the other. And I did make a big promise to my grandbaby......... uh ooops, I am rambling :-D
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, thanks for posting that song because I was trying to think of who was in a particular movie as the baby came in with wild hair the other morning and it reminded me of Labyrinth. He hair reminded me of David Bowies hair in that movie,but I could not for the life of me think of his name at the time. (i'm senile)
Well, family and grand-babies can certainly define your life ... all about priorities, I think ... like I wrote, "I don't mind sitting in the fifth row now, and just watching the movie unfold" ... so, for me, it was about learning to leave the stage to younger actors ... something like that ...
DeleteSometimes the young actors still need direction though......once they master the stage, they will be find on their own.
Deletemake that FINE on their own.......ha
DeleteYou hit the notch with the extra strength of will. It is easier if we have taken a variety down a road as well. Some people never veer off the course so the prospect is frightening. Change is hard. Good post
ReplyDelete"Change is hard."
DeleteYes, it certainly is, but not changing is somehow harder ... like a kind of frozen existence ...
Anyway, if we refuse to change, the world will change us despite our "hanging on" to what we know ...
Brilliant write. Thank you! I needed to accept that perhaps. This article helps.
ReplyDeleteYou're more than welcome ... thank you for the kind compliment ...
DeleteI love this blog and thought about something meaningful to write, but I changed my mind ... :)
ReplyDelete