The Only Constant Is Change

“It isn’t enough to appreciate change from afar, or only in the abstract, or as something that can happen to other people but not to you.  We need to create change for ourselves, in a workable way, as part of our everyday lives”.

-Sharon Salzberg

 

“Don’t try to rush things, for the cup to run over, it must first be filled”.

-Antonio Machado

 

My feelings about change can change on a daily basis.  Some change feels good and some change hurts.  One thing I have learned is that the only constant in life is change.  It will happen whether you like it or not.  Change happens to all of us.  In my cubicle is a picture of me taken the year I started working at Humana.  It is a picture of a young man with brown hair and a brown beard.  That young man is now an old man with soon to be white hair and beard.  On a daily basis I didn’t notice the transformation.  However, each day for the last 30+ years my body has aged and I became the man you see today.  As I have gotten older everyone around me seems to have gotten younger.  The good news is that the older man who writes these thoughts is a lot wiser than the young man in the picture.  The change of getting older is not a bad thing if you do right.  I have a fondness for the young version of myself but I am also very comfortable with the old man he has become.  There’s a lot about getting older that I really like.  For one thing I am a lot more relaxed.  There isn’t much that stresses me out anymore.  I feel good where I am.  Change is often good regardless of how it may occasionally feel.  Change will happen at its own pace so there is no need to rush it.  I got to where I am now one day at a time.  Believe it or not, most older people don’t want to be young again and have to re-live all the challenges of their youth.  I do not wish to re-live the labors of my youth.  My cup has filled up over time and now my cup runneth over.