The only thing constant in the world is change.

How many times have we heard this quote by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus? I suppose, several times.

Did this thought comfort you during the adjustment phase when you tried to change an aspect of your life?

Did it make you feel guilty for choosing not to move forward or have a different environment?

Did it urge you to continue with your life when you felt you were in a rut?

Did it motivate you to finally do that research, or join an organization, or talk to a certain person whom you haven’t spoken to for months, or finish that task that you have been avoiding for several weeks now?

In my life, there were moments that stuck to the memory more than most. And I realized, those were moments of changes– when I moved to the city to study in the University, when I became a young mother, when I had my first job, when I fell in love, when we moved to new addresses, when I changed my career from being an educator to being a foreign service officer. Then, there are also those changes that are not happy but they affect you nevertheless. When my late father passed away, when dear friend succumbed to illness, when a supposed friend stabbed my back, etc.

If we think about it, our lives are a series of changes. It is something inevitable. Even our concerns as teenagers differ from those when we were in our 20s or 30s. As an example, I have recently reconnected with old friends and acquaintances in the Philippines after being away for almost four (4) years. We don’t talk about the cutest haircut or the handsome boys on movie screens or the latest craze in the market. We talk about the challenges and joys of family life and career, how the pandemic changed our lives, how the election might turn out, and how so many things have happened in our lives and our surroundings since we were wide-eyed high school freshmen.

We talk about the lessons we learned in life, our aspirations, our well-wishes to one another.

Shall we embrace change? Yes.

Shall we force ourselves to change? No.

Change should be a natural process that offers growth, tests friendships, forges relationships, and makes life interesting.