To Change or Not to Change

*Originally published on my Wordpress blog 09.07.2021

One of the touchstones that help me when life gets messy is the notion that everything changes.  That's just a fundamental truth but that doesn't necessarily make it easy to accept or embrace.  The Virgo in me always likes a pro and con list. Among some other papers, I found this list that I wrote maybe ten years ago. It's still spot on, if you ask me.

Ten reasons why change can be a plus:

1. Change shakes things up and changes the cadence. You know you are alive.
2. Change opens doors and lets in fresh air. It can warm life up or chill life out.
3. Your world is broadened when things change. Out of your routines you go.
4. Sometimes change makes you happy.
5. Change can be invigorating and exciting.
6. New routes can lead to new discoveries.
7. Change often provides perspective on the past and direction for the future.
8. Small change adds up. You can cash it in for bills or a better life.
9. No one ever grew by staying the same.
10. Change can bring new people into your life.

Ten reasons why change can be a minus:

1. Hey! I liked my life just the way it was! Don't mess with it!
2. Change can be exhausting. More sleep needed.
3. Change can be frightening. What now?
4. Sometimes it leaves you feeling empty - for a while.
5. Sometimes it makes you angry. Why me? or why this? Life is not fair.
6. Sometimes the new route turns out to be too long or too short or too boring or too hard.
7. Change can cost a fortune - in so many currencies.
8. If things are good the way they are, change will probably make them less good (at least temporarily).
9. Change is difficult and sometimes a person just needs to take it easy.
10. When you stop changing, you die.