Change is the only thing we can count on in our lives, people change, places change, countries change, but within all of these massive changes, there are smaller more minute changes as well. Many people fear change and transitions, they argue against it, they struggle against it or refuse to accept it, but regardless, change is always an inevitability. Demographics change, which changes the landscape, values, beliefs, enriching the culture inasmuch as it is changing it. 

Change can be scary, think of becoming a parent for the first time, or having someone you love move away from you, these can be terrifying times for a person. In most cases, this fear is unfounded, it’s imaginary, it’s wanting to stay in a comfort zone, where everything is as we know and remember it to be. Let me add that no growth can come from comfort, nothing of true value comes easy, stepping outside of one’s comfort zone, accepting change as inevitable, and going with the flow is how consistent growth is made manifest.

Most people would demonize change as negative, they would claim it’s detrimental to life and society in some capacity, placating and falsely substantiating their fears, therefore it isn’t the change that’s inherently bad… maybe it’s the person themselves. Change simply is… it isn’t bad, it just happens; life, struggles, death, change in scenery, change in demographics, changes in society, change in acceptance, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Maybe it’s us, maybe it is us as people who are afraid of change that is the problem and not the changes themselves, after all, change is the only consistent thing in our world. 

Sometimes people also remain stagnant in life or hold onto horrible fears, refusing to step outside of their comfort zone, refusing to combat limiting beliefs or false archetypes. Change is something scary to a good many people, but perhaps it’s the individual and not the change that needs some alteration. We cannot evolve mentally, emotionally, physically, or spiritually, while holding onto fear of change, which only holds us back from our full potential as human beings. 

My prescription? Accept changes as they come, work with them and not against them, go with the flow of society and life, and don’t attempt to swim upstream. If you don’t seem to fit into the changing world around you, work on yourself; stop trying to necessarily fit in, but find your place within that change and flow with it. Find yourself, your true self, unmired by ideology or limitations that are imposed upon you by external influences; be yourself within the change, don’t change to meet with what is new, but instead work alongside the new, while keeping you genuinely you.

If change is scary, imagine the horror of complete stagnation, of no growth, only struggle and working counter-current to changes that cannot be stopped. Stagnation is the precursor to death, in effect, those working actively against change, are working toward their own obsolescence and remain stagnant. The comfort zone is cozy, easy to deal with, it’s familiar, but yields no growth whatsoever! 

So while change may be scary, not changing is terrifying, to say the least!