Embrace the Inevitable

I think we all recognize that change is inevitable.  Sometimes change is gradual such as the slowly aging body, or the appearance of a gray hair, but at other times change is dramatic as in the loss of a job, or a move across the country.  Change happens.

How we adapt to change varies with each individual.  Many people are deeply rooted in the present.  They are like trees which stand amidst the raging change around them.  You find those types of people in every small town.  Many are descended from families that established themselves multiple generations previously.  Others are tumbleweeds.  They may grow in one spot initially, but reach a point where change becomes the norm.  They are constantly moving from one location to another, from one job to another, or from one adventure to the next.

Change is a sign of growth, but it can also be a sign of death and decay.  Change can be cyclical, much like the seasons of the year.  As I age, I see more and more of the cyclicity of change within my own life -- how a change moves me into a new phase in which I grow until reaching a point of diminishing returns (an economics term explained below *) and then another change.  Each of these small cycles dwell within larger cycles such as childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age.  The ultimate end of our earthly existence is death which is the ultimate change -- especially for those of us who believe that the result of death is new life.

Change is a good thing.  It is going to happen whether we want it to or, not.  Even a stagnant pool of water changes because of the growth of bacteria and microscopic organisms that dwell within it.  We must learn to accept change and respond in ways that benefit us and those with whom we come in contact.  Accept change and make it beneficial.  Embrace it and run with it.  Fighting it only increases stress.

I don't really know why change is on my mind this morning.  I suspect it is some subtle subconscious sense that change is about to happen.  I like change.

* Diminishing returns:  The law of diminishing marginal returns states that, at some point, adding an additional factor of production results in smaller increases in output.