Funny how life comes at you fast after being on autopilot for what felt like forever. In reality, things are constantly changing, you’re just so used to it that you only notice it when it somehow affects you directly. Then you get a chance to know change very well.
The key to change, however, is not optimism or vigor, but resilience. Resilience is embracing change the best you can, and understanding that even when change feels most uncomfortable and unrelenting, it is still surmountable. A nice thing about change is that it can come in the form of progress, and we all love that – or should. It does not always seem like progress at first, and arguably change can be more of a pain in the butt than anything, but we are all doing it, all the time, every day. There are obvious changes, like new laws, protests, climate change, mass migration of people, Lebron James and Steph Curry not being in the finals for the first time in a decade, etc. There are also unnoticeable changes, like our bodies growing older and changing on a biological level. Simultaneously, but at a much faster rate I think, our minds also change over time. Some of these changes are easier to come to terms with than others, but they all require a form of resilience to acknowledge, understand, and integrate that new change into your life. Resilience of the mind is arguably much harder to cultivate than physical resilience; yet, mental resilience is just as important as physical resilience, if not more.
Resilience is the ultimate weapon of life and its strongest tool for forging its survival. I know this all sounds a bit abstract, but this does apply to you too. You are not only a part of life, you are life, and you also need to understand resiliency in the face of change, or what Darwin calls evolution. Resilience isn’t just enduring what comes at you, although that’s a big part of it. The key to being resilient is learning and adapting as things move on. As I mentioned, not every aspect of change is easy to adjust to, but you’re biologically built to withstand most natural changes and shifts. It’s the man-made and anthropocentric issues that arise due to the circumstances of our shared reality that people really struggle with when it comes to change.
The type of change I just mentioned can come in a lot of ways. It could be a new job, new relationship, new city, new diet, new medication, etc.; however, the recipe for embracing change should be the same. I’m speaking from personal experience, but I think the reason people fail to embrace or successfully navigate change, is because they’re scared. Before anything has even happened, some people convince themselves of an outcome that is not guaranteed, an outcome that they believe will not be favorable for them. They forget that they’re naturally resilient, and they capitulate to the norm/status quo because “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.” This is the mentality that got us into this current situation, and I can’t be the only one interested in seeking out a new devil. This current one is trying to kill us.
How does one overcome this fear of change and engage in resilience? To answer that question I have another saying, “take it to the chin and keep it pushing.” If you find yourself in a position doubting whether or not you’re capable of pushing your personal boundaries and doing something that seems hard or terrifying, remember that whatever bad thing “might” happen will surely pass, and you will make it to the other side of change and be a different, potentially better person, for having gone through that change. At the risk of sounding cliche, time heals a lot of things, and time will surely heal whatever sort of inconvenience or perceived failure you experience while going through change. Think about a time when you had to embrace change, or you decided to take a risk and do something different, only for it not to work out. Think about how bad you felt at that moment, and then think about where you are now. If you’re reading this, it means that the bad thing didn’t kill you, and I’m glad you’re still with us. I also believe that, depending on when this thing happened and how impactful it was for you, you don’t feel as bad about the situation as you originally did. Time moved on, and you’re still ok. That’s change. The part of change that you should take responsibility for is how you learn from and adapt to change. That bad thing that happened, what did you learn from it? Did it make you a better person? Do you understand yourself a little better? Did you learn from your initial mistakes? Want to try again? These are all positive outcomes from a potentially negative ordeal. Life is all about perspective.
Resiliency is something we all have, but it is also something we all need to practice. You have to fail in order to learn. Unfortunately, society today takes instances that should be moments of learning and teaching, and turns them into public social executions to discredit and hurt people’s reputation or livelihood. This environment makes it hard to embrace failure, and thus hard to embrace change. Moving forward, we have to give people the opportunity to try, fail, and try again. We need to have patience with our fellow humans, not tolerance, patience. Those of us who feel we know better and are farther along in our adaption to change should also practice resilience in the sense that we need to continue to work with those who need support in adjusting to change, and not uniformly categorize them all as crazy, conservative, or hopeless. We need to continually try to engage in dialogue and help them understand why change would be beneficial for them in the long run. We might all be coming from different sides, but we need resilience if we want to arrive at the same place.
As you can see, there are a few ways to tackle change, and change is for sure arduous, but with resilience, it can lead you places you can’t imagine. Do something daring this week. Make a slight change to your routine that you think would benefit you, and see what happens. If **** hits the fan, at least you tried, and hopefully learned something. Take it to the chin and keep it pushing.
OA
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