It has been said that there are two things in life we can count on, death and taxes. Personally, I don’t believe that to be true, obviously there is God in the process but the other thing that we can count on is change. Change is part of the fabric of our lives, and it seems to me to be accelerating as I get older. For example, my first car, a 1967 Mark 2 Hillman Imp, is light years away from my 2019 Toyota Corolla in every way other than it has four wheels. Much as I like classic cars, I don’t think I would be as keen on the Imp as an everyday driver as I was when I was a student in 1977.
With the advent of the technological boom, we live in change that seems to be advancing at a high paced rate. Which means that we must at some level deal with the change around us. For me the extremes are not viable options; the first is to ignore change altogether and the other extreme is to embrace everything that comes. For me neither provide a way to go forward in a reasoned and faithful way.
So, the life coach in me starts to kick in and asks how then do I respond? In true coach fashion I come back with some questions rather than answers. So here goes:
- What sort of change is this? Family, Social, Financial, Health, Vocational?
- What impact will this change bring in my life?
- How do I feel about this change? How easily will I engage with this change?
- When I put the effects of this change through my personal values and belief systems, will it violate anything I hold dear?
Now some people embrace change and are called “innovators”. They are adventurous and make change quickly and easily. Some hate change and actively fight change, they are called “change laggards”. In between are the “early adopters,” “early majority,” and “late majority”. We are not always consistent on this process; it depends on the type of change we are looking at. I am probably an “early adopter” in a lot of things until I get to technology then I am a “late majority”. I do what I have to unless for some reason I am really interested.
Recently I have had to engage with a health issue and deal with the fact that I have a couple of skin cancer lesions that will need to be operated on. This a direct result of choices I have made in the past, but it will change how I behave going forward as I will need to monitor myself. The prognosis is good, but I need to approach things differently. I am an “early adopter” in this area. This is no place to procrastinate! (Any more than I already have.)
When it comes to things that have social or family implications, I take a more measured approach and ask how this sits with my values and beliefs. That does not mean that values and beliefs cannot change but it needs to be a process beyond mere emotion. Why do I want to or need to change? What will I gain? What will I lose? What could be the long-term effects?
When I look at the last three years there has been much change to the way PK operates. The world is unlikely to return to the way it was before 2020 so we must decide what change is permanent and what will we look to modify in line with our beliefs and values because we need to retain parts of our pre-2020 process.
What will you do with the change that surrounds you going forward?
Blessings
Paul Monahan