The word ‘change’ is dear to me.
I’ve danced with it in the light and grappled with it in the dark; gulped it down in my worthy wins and bargained with it amidst my grueling failures.
It is a question I’ve pondered in the midst of existential crises and while staring—hopelessly—at the items in my closet.
So when I see it bandied about with overnight, over-easy promises, chosen flippantly to peddle the fad du jour, or wielded to titillate our deepest desires in a pretty package, it feels a little . . . flat.
Because the path to change in my life—anything of meaning, of significance—was definitely not flat; it took peaks and valleys and plateaus full of questions and gritty hikes and unnerving patience and bloody knees and an aching heart. Sometimes, twice that.
Maybe it’s different for other people.
Maybe there are a few things that could, and would, change your life.
Like being featured on Oprah. Or being discovered as J. K. Rowling.
But for most of us, even if something life-changing happens today, most (if not all) of our inner, core challenges will still be there tomorrow.
The fears you want to tame.
The truth you aspire to express.
The peace you wish to attain within.
For all of that . . .
There will be long, hard looks in the mirror.
Times of inconvenient, uncomfortable decisions.
Of being terrified and feeling like a fraud, but taking a step anyway.
And another.
Of stopping and starting again.
Of struggling, of waking up the next day to try again and maybe get a tiny bit better than the day before.
These are the things that changed my life.
Real change, the kind that counts for something, is the kind that comes from inside of you and shapes the rest of you.
That’s how life works, why the struggle is part of change. It’s because once you change your life, you’re not done. Soon enough, you might feel the call to do it again.
And I promise you—if I may be so bold—that understanding this can, in fact, change your life. Really.
Leave a Reply