Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, said that “Change is the only constant in life”. Change is inevitable, even when we resist it. You will grow older and weaker even if you don’t want to. Your relationships will be constantly changing, even those, like marriage, that are ongoing over a long period of time.
We have an inbuilt propensity to avoid discomfort. This is rooted in fear. Fear of failure, fear of the opinions of others, fear of discomfort, fear of the future, etc. Change can be scary and uncomfortable and we add stress to our lives when we try and fight it. People fear change because of what they think they might lose such as status, income, comfort or stability or because of what it might bring: disruption, instability, the unknown, pressure or stress. We are creatures of habit and we don’t like change.
Growth and change is a natural part of our lives, but it is much better to live life intentionally, focussing on our growth and moving towards achieving our mission and goals in life. There is something built into our nature that pushes us on to growth. When you look at a baby, they naturally move towards learning to crawl and then to walk. Even when they fall over numerous times and even if they injure themselves in the process with scraped knees and bumps on the head, there is something within them that pushes them on to learn to walk.
Our fears, whether rational or not, our lack of planning nor our desire for life to stay the way it is, cannot stop the hands of time. There is a saying that ‘Tide and Time wait for no man’. Time moves on and change follows it. So we all have to face the unavoidable and certain fact that change is coming. We do not have to fear change. Change is only distressing if we try to resist it or if we choose to try and live in the past. Change can be embraced if we choose to accept that change will happen; if we choose to be intentional about change and we choose to look forward to becoming everything we were created to be.
Heraclitus also said, “No man ever steps into the same river twice”. You can go down to your local river or creek every day and set foot in the water, but the water is never the same. Yesterday’s water has flowed on to new horizons and today’s water will, too. In fact, the water in the river is changing from second to second, and so too, do our lives, even if we can’t see it now.
It is only in hindsight when we look back over the years that we recognise areas of our lives where our beliefs have changed, our outlook has changed, and we can definitely see how our physical bodies have changed. Parents experience this when they have a child. The baby grows daily and it is funny how, when the baby is around six months of age, they look back on a photograph of their newborn. The most common comment is something like: “I can’t believe how tiny he/she was!” The daily growth is almost imperceptible until something reminds them of where that baby started out. Your life, your goals, your beliefs, your values, in fact, everything about your life is steadily growing or changing. But you don’t realise it until you look back and review these things to see where they were last year or even ten years ago.
The majority of people live their lives one day at a time. They don’t really think too much about the next five to ten years or next week or even tomorrow. Life is lived for today. This is especially prevalent in the younger generations of today evidenced by high credit card debt, high crime rates, limited savings and the propensity to want the very best of everything NOW! Why wait until tomorrow when you can have it all today. Unfortunately, this type of thinking can have devastating consequences if tomorrow holds grave circumstances.
Successful people know that they must be open to new ideas and concepts. They understand that to stay relevant in this ever-changing world, they need to be open and willing to change. They recognise that change is an important part of their success both now and in the future. It is much better to intentionally choose change, rather than be pushed along by the natural processes of life that don’t necessarily lead you down the path to success and fulfilment.
So make a conscious decision to welcome and embrace change so you can live your life on purpose.
Time to flourish
Helen.