When you realize that you’re smaller than a ripple in the smallest lake, smaller than a drop of paint in the Sistine Chapel, smaller even than a raindrop in a tropical storm, that’s when you really start to grow.
AF
As a society, we encourage people to be vary of the word ‘change’, unwittingly bringing a negative aura to the process of undergoing changes. It seems we are inadvertently conditioned to see change as a bad thing, that too, from a young age. As adults, this closes us off to some really great possibilities, simply because we are afraid of rocking the boat. How many scrap books and year books have we signed off with “Stay the same!”, “You’re awesome, please don’t change!”?
It’s harmless, you say, they’re just mainstream phrases we scribble randomly without giving much thought to it. Fact. In fact, I can’t remember ever writing anything significant in any of the hundreds of scrap books I’ve signed. But we need to understand that this could actually be one among the many factors that promote the idea, consciously or subconsciously, that it’s a bad thing to change as time passes.
“You’ve changed so much!” is almost always immediately followed by an irrational urge to validate ourselves with a “But in a good way or a bad one”? Why is that? Why do we always tend to assume that change is bad? Why don’t we ever respond with, “Why, thank you! I’ve made it a point to keep working on myself!”?
Change is a part of being alive. Everyone changes, as does everything in our universe. Whether you are ready to acknowledge it or not is another question.
Tastes change: in hairstyles, in clothes, in food, in men. You can’t seriously tell me you think a bowl cut is still cute on you, or that you still secretly wish to walk into your next meeting in bell bottoms, or that you still have a crush on that actor who you idolized in middle school. Or maybe you can, and you will tell me that your favorite pudding still comes in a cup. And I’ll point out that the number of changes in your life far outweigh the number of constants.
Personally, I feel like I’m a solid example of the way a person can change over the years. Without getting into the really intense changes, even the changes my taste-buds have undergone is remarkable. I cross eighteen, and miraculously, they seem to have forgotten their aversion to shellfish and they’re craving squid like an addict looking forward to his next hit.
Sometimes, it’s hard to accept that we need to change our ways. I don’t feel that bad habits are set in stone. “I’m set in my ways, I’m too old to change”: sad refrains we employ to justify our inability to take a step in an unfamiliar direction. If we can just bring ourselves to admit that we are just scared of change, scared of embracing our follies and leaving our familiar mistakes behind, that could be our baby step towards change.
We all talk about personal growth and development, but how many of us can say we are truly committed to being the best versions of ourselves? And change shouldn’t be limited to your personality or your routine. It should be an integral of every aspect of your life, so that you grow holistically.
Run more, read better, eat healthier, keep up with technology, learn more, be more open to new perspectives.
Embrace change in order to grow.
Because you stop growing the moment you start getting complacent.
The Pariah Niche 