Change
Change is inevitable. It does not require your permission or say so. It does not wait for you to be ready for the change. It does not need your approval and will occur with or without you. Those who are able to acknowledge, cope with and adapt to change, will survive and thrive. Whether you like it or not, change is here, and can be initiated by us, or an outside force. Understandably however, change can sometimes lead to feelings of fear and a lack of control.
We all know that nothing can remain the same forever, as the world is always changing. Technology is ever-changing, and we are always learning more and more. Think about this. You could get the latest cell phone or laptop today, and sometimes, within a few months, it will be considered ‘old’ or ‘out of date.’ I always laugh because I still have my laptop from 2009. In the world of technology, that is ancient! The processing system used on that computer is not even in existence anymore. I do have a more recent computer that I purchased in 2021, but that computer too, is now considered old.
Even in the world of transportation, things have changed drastically, especially with cars. Most cars are now nothing more than a moving circuit board, as the entire car is now a computer, many running on batteries alone. Progress really is impossible without change, so we must change our mindset, and actively embrace it. Austrian Psychiatrist, Viktor E. Frankl once that “when we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” This is so true.
My generation grew up in an era where we were introduced to technology; we were not born into it. In school, we did not have the ability to “google” information. If I needed to complete a report, I had to actually go to a library and find books on the subject that I was researching. My professors always required us to include a bibliography, so that they could see where we got our information, and to of course ensure that you did not plagiarize anything. My bibliography was actually a list of books and other publications that I physically touched, rather than a list of google sites that I went to.
I didn’t even get my first email address until college. This was completely new to me, but I had to adapt, as many in my generation did. However, I can appreciate the fact that I grew up on the cusp of new technology being introduced; analog vs. digital, because I was able to learn and adapt to the new technology. For whatever reason if the internet was down, I did not freak out, as I knew how to navigate the library and still obtain any information that I needed. My parents had an 8-track stereo, and some of you reading this may have no idea what that is. I had a Walkman, where I listened to music on tapes, then a disc player, before eventually getting an Apple iPod, and so on.
Since that time of course, we have had to adapt to all kinds of changes, whether we liked it or not. I also did not grow up in the era of social media. In fact, I was already grown when Facebook hit the scene. This idea of being able to connect with people that you lost touch with many, many years ago was intriguing. And to be honest, I was reminded why I lost touch with certain people. Sometimes, when people are no longer in your life, it needs to stay that way. Just a tidbit. Without change however, there is no creativity, innovation or improvement of anything.
Life is full of curve balls. Even some jobs that were done by humans one hundred percent of the time, can now be done by robots almost one hundred percent of the time. More and more restaurants for example are investing in robots to do everything from cooking, to taking orders, to delivering food. Unfortunately, this eliminates the need for human employees, or at least some of them, thereby causing a loss of jobs. Let’s look at Target and Wal-Mart for example, and many other stores that have self-checkout. As more and more self-checkout registers are installed, this eliminates the need to employ as many cashiers.
It may be a while before automation takes over one hundred percent, but we are starting to see the effects of it none-the-less. We can either sit by and complain about it or adapt. Could you learn a new skill? How can you use this as an opportunity to grow? How can you benefit from this change?
Even we change all of time whether or not we realize it. Our attitudes on certain things change, be it positive or negative. We grow, hopefully in the right direction, and our perspectives on many things change. We may not even like to do things that we once loved to do. At one time when we were younger, perhaps we enjoyed going out and partying, hanging out in the clubs, but not so much now. We changed. Unfortunately, some people that we may have been friends with back then, have not changed, and they do not like the fact that we did. They expected us to remain the same person forever. We provided a sort of comfort to them when we all did the same thing, but now that you have evolved, you have disrupted their comfort zone and they do not like it. You need to continually change and ascend, and those that cannot keep up, will just need to be left behind. It is as simple as that.
Our bodies also change as we get older. We can either complain and pout about it or adapt. For example, I use to love kiwi, until one day, while eating it, my mouth started to feel like cotton, and it felt like my throat was starting to close. This was seemingly out of the blue. My body started rejecting the kiwi and was letting me know to stop eating it. And like I said, I LOVED kiwi. But our bodies change and will continue to change in the future. Some things that you can do and eat now, may not always be the case in the future. Our weight will likely fluctuate, and we will see changes in our body that will have us asking “when the hell did that happen? What is that?” Nonetheless, I encourage anyone to love themselves through every stage and change.
Ultimately, adapting to change or a new reality can be rewarding and offer a skill-building experience. It offers an opportunity to embrace a new chapter in life with a more positive attitude. In the words of John C. Maxwell, “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.”
