Welcome, Ven a gozar!

Change threads its way through my blog. Change is one of the hardest things for us humans to accept. Resisting change is a trait we share with cats, fwiw. Cat’s dislike change even more than we do. Most of us create our own internal schedule, and our own rhythms. We do not like our boat to be rocked at all. I have spent a great part of my working life doing jobs that thrive on change. I am one of the few people who like change –  at work.

I am not someone who likes impulsive things, but I do like change at work as I tend to get bored over time doing the same thing over and over again. One job I really enjoyed that that most people would find boring was being a dishwasher at a restaurant. For some reason I found being a dishwasher very relaxing. It had a nice rhythm, and I suppose there was enough movement, and task separation to make it fun - for me at least.

We need change in our lives. Even though most of us will say we like change, we tend to fight change whenever we can. Even when we are miserable, and hate our life situation, we stay in it rather than try doing something different in our life. And that is too bad. Like people in a bad relationship, no matter what the cause, we sit in our misery, because no matter how bad things are, it is comfortable. It may not be fun, but it is comfortable and knowable. We humans like constancy in our lives.

I can find a number of reasons why I did not want to change something in my life even when I knew deep down inside I should have changed it a long time ago. I could tick off those reasons into categories, sub categories, and sometimes even find referenced links between categories. I imagine most people are the same way. Eventually something comes along that will make me change whatever it is I am resisting.

Whatever happens is the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. One problem too many, and I can’t deal with it any more. I am forced to change, like it or not. Then once the change has been in place for a while, I wonder what I was so against? The change is good, even fun, once I finish pouting about it. Sometimes it is painful, but over a lifetime I have learned pain is all relative. I would rather a good friend move away than have them killed in an accident. I would rather have some ailment that is a reminder I am not a teenager any longer, than be told I have some terminal disease.

The point of all the above, is to say do not wait until you are in complete misery before accepting the fact that either you, or something in your life has to change. It is easier to start working that change when it becomes evident that you must make a change than wait until life really rains on your parade. Generally once people accept they have to make changes, and actually make a change in their life, they are happy they did.

Like the lyrics in the song tell us, ‘Change will do you good…’. Try it out change yourself. Try embracing change instead of putting it off. You may be surprised at the results. If you are someone who needs to practice, go to a clothing store and buy some shirt or top that you generally would never wear in public. Take it home, wash it and wear it the next day. Wear it every week or ten days. You will see that change is not as terrible as you thought it might be. We are all changing all the time, it can’t be stopped, but it can be less painful than we allow it to be.

Comments (1) Dec 12 2007