Change. That’s a word that has held different meanings for
me at different points of my life. When I was a kid, there have been times when
so much changed all at once, but I never blinked an eye about it and just went
with the flow of things. A new city, a new home, new friends, a new language –
none of it bothered me. Yes, I was apprehensive and scared, but I accepted the
change with no qualms or worries. I didn’t fully understand or realise that my
life was changing and that things wouldn’t ever be the same. Sometimes I wish
that were true even today.
Do we really ever want change? Or do we not? A few months
back, I prayed for things to change. I prayed for better days, for something
different, for a fresh start, a second chance. Now I’m not sure I want it. I’m
afraid to leave things behind. I hate that a person’s past will always cling to
them and they can never shrug it off, however much they try. It becomes part of
them, I guess. One thing I’m sure of. Change scares people, however old they
are, however strong they are and however much they deny it. Whether we want
change or not is probably irrelevant most of the time. It just happens and the
best we can do on our part is to go along with it, take things in our stride to
the best of our capabilities. Although, I feel that if we want to genuinely
turn things around, we always can. Change can be brought about by us, as much
as it can be by chance. Sometimes, taking a risk, making yourself vulnerable,
rooting for change can do wonderful things. So I guess there are always pros
and cons.
This is definitely not from a very worldly perspective of
things. There are too many things in the world that NEED to change. And mostly,
we don’t allow it, because we’re scared -
scared of the consequences probably, although we’ll never admit it.
The other day, a friend of mine told me, “Change is the only
thing that’s permanent sometimes.” Maybe I understood it or maybe I didn’t. But
what I understood was that sometimes this change is good and otherwise it
isn’t. But it happens, and there isn’t anything we can do about it. Sometimes,
we bring about the change and sometimes it just comes our way and jolts us. But
it’s our job to accept it with all its ups and downs with no qualms, because
that’s the only way to move forward. We don’t want to hang back in the past and
go backwards now, do we?
