Read this if you’re afraid of change
Change. Does it terrify you?
Most of us love things the way they are, the way we know them because it gives us a sense of safety. We feel safe when we know things well and can predict them. Change takes that away from us, so we sometimes try to avoid it at all costs.
Consequently, we sometimes lower our standards and settle for less. We choose live a normal, secure and predictable life.
Do you or someone you know
- Stay in a relationship that no longer serves them just because they don’t want to start over
- Stay in a job that no longer challenges them or gives them any spark but gives them a stable income
- Always stay in the same group of people or town and never thought to explore other groups because it’s tiring to adapt to fit in
As a result, at what price do we pay to stay in the comfort zone and refuse the opportunity? Imagine who we could have become, a life we could have lived and other lives we could have influenced.
To avoid change is to refuse one of our greatest gifts from nature, our ability to adapt and grow.
It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.
— Charles Darwin
Let’s draw an example from a plot of the recently returned all-time favourite blockbuster movie.
The Way of Water
As we saw from the trailer Avatar: The Way of Water, the main protagonists are moving on to a new land that they’re not familiar with.
As they arrive, the new clan comes to see them and tells them that everything they’ve learned so far to survive is useless here, that they need to learn their way of living, the way of water.
From flying and jumping around the jungle, they now have to learn how to swim in the deep sea, ride the sea monster and hold their breath for longer underwater. They were treated like a baby learning how to walk.
Fast forward, they’ve grown, learned those new skills and become a stronger warrior, both on land, in the air and now in the water. All thanks to the change and the new home that they’ve embraced.
Change gives us an opportunity to grow
Immigrants or international students like me might be able to relate to the plot; what it feels like to move to a foreign land and try to fit in, to learn a new language and new way of living.
But change sometimes doesn’t need to be as big as moving to a new city. Sometimes it’s just about making different choices, the ones that we aren’t familiar with, the ones that are outside our comfort zone, the ones that we aren’t certain of the outcomes because it may lead to a better or worse or the ones that may give us a fresh start as we know that things always work out eventually.
Sometimes changes are unavoidable, so why not be prepared?
But whether we like it or not, change sometimes is inevitable and is outside our control. Nothing last forever, and we own nothing in this world. The people we love, the things we grow attached to and the identity and job titles we identify ourselves to can be taken away from us at any point.
But the one thing that can never be taken away from us is the freedom to choose. We can choose to be ready. We can choose to make the most of the given circumstances. We can choose to pick ourselves back up again regardless of what life throws at us.
Be like the stream of water that keeps flowing forward despite the obstacles. Learn the way of water.
