There are many people in the world who claim to not like change. They don't like the feeling that they have lost something they can never have again - a childhood, a job, a home, a grandparent, a pet, a friend. I can't blame them, because until not too long ago I was one of them. I pined for the past. Mourned the endings. Always had a hard time moving forward. But then one day it dawned on me that everyone is always living in a state of constant change.
Think about it. There are so many things changing. The weather changes. You change your clothes every day. (hopefully) Your moods change. Your meals change. Your attitudes and opinions change. The more I thought about it, the harder it was to think of things that DIDN'T change.
Now maybe when people say they don't like change they mean negative changes, or sudden, surprising changes. But even those criteria can be dismissed when you realize that it all depends on your attitude. A negative change can be positive if you change your outlook on it. A sudden change, also, may be the only way to bring about something new. Change is a constant, not something that can be controlled or stopped. The thing that matters is how we deal with it.
Think about where you were five years ago. Were you the same? Of course not. Maybe you haven't had a lot of change in those five years, but if anything you are a little older, and thousands of tiny changes have happened that you probably didn't even notice. It's only when you start noticing that you start labeling changes "good" or "bad". However, what if we could change our outlook and see that everything is changing, and put a "good" label on everything?
It may not seem possible to put a positive spin on changes that seem so very negative. For example, a loved one passing away. But maybe you wouldn't have learned what you did if that didn't happen. Maybe they were suffering, and now they are not. Maybe you would have leaned on them too much. Maybe you started a charity or a tradition to honor that person. Maybe, just maybe, it helped you understand that your own time is limited, and you should make the most of it.
I, for one, know it is sometimes very hard to put a positive spin on change. But the change will happen whether you like it or not. So are you going to accept it and learn and grow, or are you going to be so upset about everything that you are miserable your entire life?
