Change

Change is an interesting monster. It is often said that it is for our best and yet it is also often said that it is entirely uncomfortable. And yet, there it is....always there... inescapable.

This came to my attention this past week over facebook. Facebook has instituted another change which has resulted in a major uproar. There has been many a status of disgruntlement, many a way to revert back to the good but OLD facebook. And then I got to thinking, the OLD facebook, used to be the NEW facebook and it garnered as much opposition as this current change.

And I wondered. I wondered why a simple adjustment in facebook could cause such an uproarious outcry. Why does something so inconsequential result in such frustration? Is a simple change in fb that threatening? I mean, come on, it is ONLY facebook after all. Are our lives so centered around something so mundane that a minute change can disrupt our lives?

Then I thought some more. It isn't the fact that facebook changed that is the problem. It is change itself. It is unknown, we anticipate that it will be uncomfortable and therefore we fear it. We cannot prepare ourselves and therefore it poses as a threat. We do not know this stranger called change. We do not know its intentions. We do not know its motives. Therefore, we do not, we cannot trust it.

And yet I look over my life. It has been one source of change after another. One adjustment after another. Some changes were welcomed, some were forced upon me. And yet, they exist, they happen. And so I adapt. I really do not have another option.

And what have I learned? I have learned to roll with it. To go with it. And to do my best to work with it. I found that when I fight it, it makes it harder. Why? Well because it will still happen. So I can choose to fight it. I can choose to embrace it. Either way it will still happen. I can be left behind, or I can move with it.

It's never easy. But I can look back and say that all in all, I have learned many things through change. I have grown, in wisdom and in character. Was it always smooth? Was it always nice and gentle and full of rainbows and sunshine? Not on your life. But I think that much can be learned from change, it can be a good thing. Good or bad depends on our perspective. What we learn depends on our attitude going in. Change can be a friend or an enemy. Which is it for you?