Is Change Good or Bad?
Change is a good thing.
Yet this terrifies us. Change leads to the unknown, and in our fear-based society, the unknown frightens us.
I know that to some degree, this is a survival instinct. When we lived in caves, and had a limited knowledge of anything but the immediate geography, the unknown beyond was almost unimaginable. What kind of creatures are over that mountain? Are there monsters in the sea? Does that village we see smoke from contain cannibals?
Some among our ancient ancestors didn’t leave the immediate area. But others did, they ventured out, faced the fear, changed the world they knew. From that shift we evolved from hunter-gatherers to farmers, and change happened.
Our world evolved. We crossed the sea, we went over the mountain, and we met the people of that village. We swallowed our fear, we became explorers, and our world grew.
Change is how we got to our modern society. Do you realize that a hundred years ago the idea of instantaneous global communications would have been totally unbelievable? Because of changes in our technology, here we are. The moment I post this it can be read anywhere in the world.
Yet deep down, the majority of us fear change. And many of those who act as our “leaders” love to do whatever they can to exploit that fear. They use that to maintain whatever status quo holds their so-called power.
Change happens whether you like it or not.
This is the truth. Everything changes. Every single day things move, shift, evolve. This is inevitable. It is also unavoidable.
I am at the cusp of some pretty major changes in my life. Several matters are about to shift, ranging from my employment, to my home, to my physical, emotional and mental health. Rather than just let these transitions happen, I am working on controlling them, and embracing them.
For example…we will be moving at the end of the fall. While we are only moving two hours away from where we currently live, it will be the first time in over twenty years I will be relocating to a substantially different locale. I’ll be less than an hour from a different major city than I have lived near for over two decades.
We have chosen this change. Why? Because transmutaion is good. Change is growth, evolution, and opportunity. Without these, we face stagnation. The lack of growth can lead to staleness, like a standing pool of water, and a stagnant life can lead to enormous dissatisfaction.
Even if you are content with how things are, no matter how long they remain constant, they will still change. A lot of this stuff is beyond our control. How we react to it, however, is entirely up to each and every one of us.
Further, some change is unwanted. I am going to get political here, because it is really hard not to. Look at the effort our President is putting into obliterating everything his predecessor did. Look at how, rather than fix the issues with the ACA, congress keeps trying to tear it down. Millions of lives will be effected by some pretty selfish, thoughtless acts, and changes to policy. A transition will happen, whether we want it to or not.
Accept change, or change it.
We can choose to just let this happen, or we can fight to alter matters for the better. Marches, rallies, non-violent protests, blog posts and other actions can be implemented to change the negative to something positive. Elections happen, and we can work on getting rid of the dead weight in congress. We can inundate all of these so-called leaders with letters, e mails and phone calls reminding them who they work for. We can choose how coming change will impact us.
This is true of change on every level. Personal, political, global, even universal. The thing is, simply resisting is not enough, we need to have a blueprint to change for the better. We need to not fear the change is happening, but rather embrace change that we want. We can and should resist the fear, but to move forward we need to strike out courageously towards positive tranformations.
I am looking at a lot of variation ahead of me. There is some fear, and I need to acknowledge it, then let it go and replace it instead with confidence in myself, and setting out to create change as I want it. I see the bridges of change before me. Some are a little scary, you know, those rope bridges over huge chasms that look none-too-stable? But I want to get to the change at the other side, so crossing the bridges is my only option.
Change is growth. It is the new. This can be exciting if I choose to make it so. That’s what lies ahead, and I am embracing change to create the life I most desire to live.
Embrace change, resist it, or cower in fear. The choice is wholly up to me. Embracing change is the only way to have any control of it. What would you prefer to do?
As always, thank you for crossing the bridges with me.
GOAL LOG – Week 35:
Diet: Mostly back on track, but I have not been writing it down.
Exercise: Fencing two days, two days at the gym.
Writing: The three blog posts were done; a blog post to my author website; editing of Harbinger was completed as well.
Meditation: Four of seven days last week, but I did not write anything down.
Gratitude: I did not maintain the physical log, so this was not done.
This is the fiftieth entry of my personal journey, the Crossing the Bridges series. My collectively published writing can be found here.
