Change and Why it Doesn´t (have to) Suck

By: Emma Aristizábal Throughout my life I have managed to learn one key thing. It is the inevitability of change. Sucks right? I'm joking of course change can be such a beautiful thing. Here is the most basic and unoriginal metaphor ever created. Change is like a cacoon; it has a transition period that can have one of two outcomes: 1. A beautiful butterfly painted in a beautiful rainbow mosaic (positive outcome). Or 2. A hideous 12inch brown moth (shudder) comes out to torment you and your clothes (negative outcome). Change is inevitable but what you can control is how you react to change. To continue with our butterfly analogy. There is a cocoon in your backyard and you are convinced that a beautiful butterfly is going to come out at any moment. You wait a week and finally, the cocoon begins to hatch when suddenly a blood-sucking brown monster comes flying out. This isn't the outcome you expected yet you can choose how to react. You can sulk about it till the end of time or you can turn it to your advantage. There is no such thing as good change or bad change. You can look at the horrendous brown monster as a new opportunity, something just as beautiful as the butterfly in its own way.

Change is something completely inevitable yet it has no positive or negative connotation. It's the way you react that gives it the power to affect your life for the better. This is where silver linings come into play. The idea that something good can stem from something bad is applicable to anything and everything in life. Now by this point, you might be thinking I have completely lost it but try thinking about the following example. Let's say you lose something that means a great deal to you. Perhaps it was a necklace your grandmother gave you or a book you truly loved or just anything you value dearly. One day you set it down and it disappears from your life. Sure you are upset at first, but from it you can learn to be more responsible and caring of your own things. This might seem like something a scolding mother would say, but responsibility is a great skill to cultivate. Choosing the outlook you have in life is what will ultimately decide how happy and satisfied you'll be. This brings me to my next point, which is the importance of embracing change. Looking at it as a form of liberation. Seeing how it opens new windows and gives you the freedom to choose your own destiny. Change is something you should welcome with open arms as with it many new opportunities will arise. It gives freshness to our lives and keeps us on our toes. Change is a crucial part of living and it has the power to create our best selves and our worst selves. By shying away from change we are taking away our possibility of creating a better us and living a better life. It's hard. Embracing something that scares us is hard, but it can be done. Learn from every situation you're in, and use it all to your advantage, or you might never recognize a blessing in disguise. In the wise words of Kakuzō Okakura, “The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.”