3+ Things You Need to Know About Change
“We mark some days as fair, some as foul, because we do not see that the character of every day as identical”
― Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain
There have been a lot of changes in the world as of late. This change has affected a lot of day to day activities. How we go to school, how many go to work, how we meet people and engage in social activity. The world seems to have been completely turned upside down.
For the time being, I am staying with my family in the town that I grew up in. I am staying in the bedroom I lived in my entire life, taking walks around the abandoned fairgrounds next to my elementary school and on occasion visiting my brothers at the cemetery.
The state of the world combined with this blast from the past has really put a lot of things into perspective. Even in my little hometown, where things don’t seem to change, I look at the 30 years I have lived here and how much has changed over time.
Every day is a new beginning. Take a deep breath, smile and start again. — Unknown
Change is Constant
If there is anything I have learned from consistently looking at and studying change, it’s that the effects are constant. They not may appear that way on the surface but in reality, time stops for no one. Every day the seconds tick forwards with no possibility to reverse. And even if you today looks a lot like it did yesterday, that just means you aren’t aware of the changes going on around you.
Every day in quarantine may appear the same. But there are many who felt that same way about their jobs, day in and day out. Days looked the same, while an ocean away, events were unfolding. These events grew and affected every being on the earth today. Some were aware, while others were not.
Each day may have a similar composition, but the details are always going to be different. If not for you, then for someone else around you. There are always going to be circumstances outside of your control that will affect you and the world you live in.
Every day there are new books being written, conversations being had, companies being created, companies being sold, technology being invented and biological changes in the world around us.
Every single person is connected and what happens to one, affects others around them. Some changes may appear small, and only affect a few close individuals. Other changes, like the spread of COVID-19 may have a larger impact. However, there is NO act so small that it doesn’t affect anyone except for yourself.
The little things that you think affect just you have long-lasting consequences. Even the food you eat doesn’t affect just you. Where did that food come from? Did you grow it yourself instead of purchasing it from a farmer? Or if it was purchased, who made it? You helped support at least one, if not multiple companies in your purchase.
Was it healthy food? Surely your health doesn’t affect other people?
Except it does. What you eat affects not only your physical health, but also your mental health as well. I’m not here to tell you what to eat, but if you don’t care about your health, other people see and are affected by that as well. If you have no self-respect, you are less likely to get that respect from others.
You may also be teaching your children food habits that affect their own lifestyles as they grow. It can cause concern among family members, or inspire other family members to eat healthily and treat themselves with respect.
There is no choice so small that it will not in some way affect another person, if not many.
Change is Permanent
Once choices are made, change becomes permanent. You then set off a series of future choices and consequences and nothing will ever go back to the way it was.
It doesn’t matter if it is a “good” or “bad” change, the effects will still always be long-lasting. Again, no matter how small the choice, it will permanently affect you and others around you. One day my brother made a choice to go to the house of a friend. That small action, combined with the actions of people I didn’t even know, has completely changed my entire life.
Sometimes I still get so mad that he was even in that house. This choice had more permanent consequences than most. I am madder at him for his death than anyone else involved. I’m mad at him for leaving me without a brother because of the choices he made and I have to live with.
You may be looking around at all the changes we are currently experiencing due to the coronavirus and saying, “This is temporary.”
Is it though?
Will there be no lasting changes in anyone’s life? There already have been. The economy is already different from when we went in. People and business are evolving and growing. People are having realizations and growing emotionally, spiritually, mentally. There is a lot going on in the quarantine.
Can you see it? Are you a part of it?
The “normal” we knew before is gone. And while social distancing won’t always be a thing, it is a temporary situation, it is bringing about long-lasting changes and we are evolving to a new “normal.”
Change is Individual
Every person has made different choices and been dealt a different hand. Circumstances are going to be different for everyone. Which makes this time of growth and change different for everyone.
Not everyone is going to come out of this with a side-hustle. Not everyone is going to come out of this spiritually enlightened. Not everyone will have huge epiphanies that change their life. That’s for those with the best set of circumstances for such growth based on previous choices.
That also isn’t to say all previous choices were bad. The choice to have children now requires homeschooling that wasn’t there before.
Some have made career choices that have been deemed essential and are still working.
There are those who have loved ones who are sick and require care, or may even be sick themselves and are just focusing on staying alive.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to the situation we are in.
The only thing we can really do is pay attention.
Pay Attention
To what? What good is that going to do?
Pay attention to the bigger picture. We are a global community and every action is laced into other actions. Pay attention to what goes on in the world around you. This allows every one of us to make more informed decisions and realize the long-term effects.
Pay attention to your choices. Look at how they affect other people around you and how their choices affect you. Remember this goes both ways.
Pay attention to others. Times of change can often mean times of trauma. Look for ways you can help and serve those around you. It doesn’t matter why you help as long as you do.
Even if it’s for something to do.
Or because having a sense of purpose is the best way to make it through difficult changes.
Or if you are just a good person and want to help.
It doesn’t matter, as long as you help. Because those good actions always come back in some form or another. All actions are connected.
Conclusion
So we know that change is constant, permanent and individual. We know that it is often difficult. There is always something lost with change, but that doesn’t mean that change is always a bad thing.
Often times, we gain so much more than we lose with change, especially if we allow ourselves to see it.
When we can recognize what it is and how it works, it is easier to accept change and move forward in our new circumstances. Even temporary situations can leave a lasting imprint. The more we understand the nature of this, the better we are able to adapt and not be left behind in the memory of the past.
What Now?
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