Do you remember your very first cot? You probably don’t, because you were very small. Can you imagine still being able to sleep in that little bed? How big would you be today? Most likely, you would be a little smaller than the cot so you could fit inside it. But why do you no longer fit in that warm, soft, comfortable cot? Because you grew, because you changed.
The same thing happens to us every day. Every day we have new experiences that bring changes with them; some go unnoticed, and others are more obvious. Changes that help us learn, changes that help us grow. Resisting change only brings us pain and suffering. Can you imagine having been left in that cot forever? How long would your legs be? How long would your arms be? Can you imagine all the pain you would have suffered as your whole body tried to grow and the rails of that little bed restricted your growth? Changes happen, and they have been happening since the very beginning of our gestation.
That is what you do to yourself when you resist change. When you resist the changes that happen in our lives every day — including a breakup, being dismissed from a job, an unplanned move, the loss of a family member, having something stolen, and so on — you limit the inherent opportunities for growth that come with those changes. But why didn’t we notice the changes in our first years of life? Because we offered no resistance. Changes simply happened, and we kept pace with them. Thanks to those changes, we are who we are today. But now that we are aware of them, are we going to prevent them out of fear that things might change? Absurd.
Look around you, look at the little details, look around you again. What you saw yesterday is not the same as what you are looking at today. The leaves on the trees are not the same, the clouds in the sky are not the same, the air you breathe is not the same, you are not the same; no one bathes in the same river twice. Allow yourself to change, allow yourself to experience changes, embrace them, accept them and adapt; it is one of the best ways to let yourself grow. The human brain can adapt and overcome any adversity, and those who adapt best survive.
In the cot, at such a young age, it would not have been your responsibility if your growth had been restricted. Now it is your responsibility. Look favourably on change, embrace it, seek out the opportunities it brings; your growth is your responsibility alone, and no one else’s. Don’t be one of that small group who prefer “something bad but familiar to something good yet unknown”; that group fears change and therefore clings to its comfort zone. Leave your comfort zone, stretch your legs, stretch your arms and break the rails of that imaginary cot that would hold you back.
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Do not resist them; that only creates pain. Let reality be reality; let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they wish.
Lao Tzu