It’s cliché but true: The only constant is change. Look at nature. It’s never still. Even rocks, given geological time, move.
Or look at kids. One minute they are cute babies, the next they are cute but challenging toddlers, and so on. The rule applies to us all: A glance in the mirror reminds us that we aren’t the same person as yesterday. What if we embraced that?
I recently visited Manhattan’s Lower East Side, where my grandfather J.I. Rodale grew up. Where there were Jewish tenements, there’s now a school. His synagogue is now a community center. As I watched my daughter at a playground there, I imagined that when J.I. was a child, he played in the same space. Back then, it was probably just a muddy field surrounded by flowering trees. Everything has changed. That’s okay. We think we want things to stay the same. But the truth is, stability can get boring. I believe what we really want is to learn and grow.
I often refer to Darwin when it comes to change. In his theory of evolution, he was talking about the ability to adapt. That’s an important trait. I’ve found that when I stop fighting change, the real living starts. Then each moment is an opportunity to appreciate what’s happening now. My kid is climbing on the jungle gym; I am watching her.
From there, I imagine another 100 years from now, when my daughter’s great-grandchildren visit this place. I take joy in that thought. Everything will have changed by then. And people will have adapted. It’s what we do.
Originally published in Rodale’s Organic Life
Change, it’s scary, but we all must at some point. We will either progress, or fail because of it, but change we must.
What happens when you stop fighting change, Change Happens!