Times They Are (Always) A Changin'

I am not good with change. Change is scary and unpredictable and I prefer to live by my most favorite of sayings, even if it does bother me grammatically... "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The logic behind this is so simple, and yet, people seem to want to go against the grain and take life-changing risks. I, of course, prefer to play it safe. I cross at crosswalks, keep a full-time job with benefits, and never wear the dreaded, albeit very summer-appropriate, white jean. Concerning the white jean... it seems like a great idea in the wee hours when you are dressing in the slightly darkened facade of your natural-light-free bedroom, but let us be honest with one another, walking out the door in those blinders is like begging for mid-day embarrassment of some kind. In this case, the risk is just not worth the reward. The reward, I'm assuming, is being in style for the season, which has never really been much of a personal concern.

Unfortunately in your mid-twenties change is everywhere. People are changing at an alarming rate. Those you thought would always be in your delicate inner circle are suddenly just another status update on your Facebook page. And, quite frankly, in most cases I think I made it out just in time. That "summertime high 2012" photo album is not exactly my idea of a magical few months. Not only are your peers changing, but it seems to be a critical time in the lives of those you have looked up to for so long. Grandparents seem to be fading away, and because the circle of life is relentless, our parent's generation is becoming the metaphoric top of the totem pole. My parents recently sold the beloved house in which I grew up, and moved to a more economically responsible, and thus, smaller residence. While it was not the downgrade that tugged at me emotionally, it was the very straightforward idea that my childhood was really over and that they were moving on to their next stage of life, even if I think they are the youngest 50-somethings this side of the Mississippi. Change causes everyone involved to stop, think and ponder about the past and the future, and this does not sit well with most.

Recently, I fooled myself into thinking that I had it pinned down. Big changes had come in the previous years, and I figured it was now time to sit back and ride it out. That's almost laughable, I know. One day I will remember that life doesn't work that way. Times are precious because they never stay the way you want them to for long. Opportunities arise and those closest to you are whisked out of your everyday life all the time. And even though these friends and relatives are the ones buckling up to face these jolting changes head-on, the ripple effect is felt by all.

I'm not naive, I understand that no one is living their life for me. But each time a friend is uprooted my ego-centric self wants to throw a tantrum. My life is so good right now! By you bettering yourself and following your dreams I am being VERY affected here! Then after my mental (well most of the time it is mental) hissy fit I realize that this change is inevitable. Those of us that were fed a steady diet of 90's grunge-rock growing up knows the lyric "every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end," all too well. If things just stayed the same, life would not be the exciting roll of the dice that it is. There would be no evolving. I'm not talking about Darwin-level evolution, I'm talking about the fact that if everything stayed as it was, I would still want to wear neon bike shorts while creating dance routines to New Kids On The Block's number one hits album. And that would just not be good for anyone. Change in this life is a non-neon wearing must.

I so clearly need to work on accepting change. In an obvious ironic statement, I suppose that I have to change in order to accept change. I feel as though it is worth mentioning that this is a clear catch-22, and is going to be much harder than I thought. The thing about change, however, is that it's not really concerned about you. It comes uninvited, and leaves everything in a mess of unfamiliarity. So I guess change is really just an exercise in figuring it all out. Does this sound just like the rest of your twenties to anyone else? There are no preventative measures that can be taken to stop it, so my words of comfort are as follows: grin and bear it until it actually starts to work for you.

In other words...Ready or not, here it comes.