“Everything’s changing, and that’s okay.”
That’s a quote from Martha Beck’s book Finding Your Own North Star. She’s talking about how even when things are great, life is humming along, we’re in our sweet spot with our work or our family or our health, change can happen at any time. And that’s okay. It’s the natural order of things. The idea is that knowing everything’s always changing helps us feel less freaked out when things actually do.
This morning, I thought about the way change shows up in my own life.
I thought about my 8-year-old son, who I just dropped off this morning for his first day of 2nd grade. Between his new school, his new backpack, his new sneakers, his new food preferences, and his new attitude, he is the embodiment of the concept “everything’s changing.” He is constantly evolving and maturing and stepping into the person he is and the man he will become. Getting on board with this evolution is one of my biggest jobs as his mom.
I thought about my dog. He lives his life knowing that everything’s changing all the time. Not only that, he’s couldn’t be happier about it. Time to go for a walk? Cool! Someone’s knocking at the door? Awesome! Oh, we’re going in the car now? Great! Baxter embraces the present and change. It’s just how he rolls.
I thought about me. And the way I’m compelled to neatly wrap things up, to have things just so, to create order in my life. And I realized that I spend much of my time trying to “get done” with everything so I can reach a point where I can “just be.”
I realized that even though I don’t believe in “happily ever after” or as “happiness” itself as a final destination, in many ways, I’m still chasing it.
And I realized that by chasing that destination, I’m actually resisting the change.
I wonder how it might feel to truly live the notion that everything’s changing?
I think I’m going to try and find out.