Change in Life
March 1st, 2007 by b.reeder
Change is a fact of life. I change, those around me change, circumstances change, etc. Many people struggle with change and fight it to maintain where they are in life. They do this mainly for the comfortable feeling they get by having routine, and knowing what they are doing that day, that week, that month, that year. This is the basis of the security most people rely on in order to function in society.
The state of mind a person adjusts to when stagnant can be a dangerous thing.
The comfort zone they create isn’t based on reality; it’s based on their version of reality. This creates issues when you have a group of people living by the same laws and boundaries- society. Because of these altered perspectives, people that may seem to be behaving oddly actually make perfect sense- to themselves.
My mentality has always been slightly different. I try to welcome and embrace change (in most forms). I am constantly challenging myself and get out of my comfort zone- both to experience more in life and gain perspective. Personally I do this by meeting new people, traveling, and trying new things. By new things I really mean anything- from a new restaurant to a new mindset.
Most people fight to stay where they are in life- to gain the creature comforts that society preaches as the tenants of “happiness”. To me, this is a fallacy of the most epic proportions. For someone to claim they know how to make me “happy” is more ludicrous than the rapper.
And “happiness” is not what I’m after.
Happiness is an emotion. Emotions CONSTANTLY adjust depending what a people tell themselves about a situation. We have control over what we tell ourselves; therefore we have control over our emotions. Few people understand that we can adjust our emotions based on what we want to think. A bad mood doesn’t happen because of an event, but about our view of that event.
Sitting in traffic is upsetting because you are thinking about everything you could be doing, about why it happened, about how you’re late, etc. If you don’t think about those things but instead say, “I have no control over this; I’ll get there as soon as I can, I hope no one is hurt in an accident, etc.”, your mood doesn’t seem to be as bad. Why? Because of what you told yourself about the situation you were in.
What I am after is a being content.
While happiness is an emotion- constantly adjusting and influenced- being content is a feeling of satisfaction, over the long term.
To bring this full circle, I believe the only way to be content is to experience all you can in life. Only by understanding what is happening in the rest of my family/friends/town/city/state/country/world, can I truly be content with all the wonderful things I have. And the only way to experience them is by stepping out of my comfort zone. The only way to do that is change.
The reason: I can appreciate everything. I would take nothing for granted. I would empathize with those around me- instead of judging.
These are all things that I am working towards, and always will be.
They are life-long ambitions.
lindsey Says
hey i was just reading this and u pretty much said what i said in that last message i sent! weird. but i definitely agree…being content 100% of the time is way more fulfilling than being happy 75% of the time.
Apr 7th, 2007 at 4:31 am