The Inevitibility of Change

July 13 , 2019
By Tsion Fisseha ( Tsion Fisseha is a writer and head of foreign languages in the news department at a local TV station. She has been a part of a pan African poetry slam competition representing Ethiopia and is a member of a rock band entitled the Green Manalishi. She can be reached at tsion.f.terefe@gmail.com. )

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The only thing that is consistent in this world is change. This statement is hard to swallow for a lot of people, including me. Change can be a sign of betterment, but regardless of the connotation, it is a terrifying fact for some.

Looking back, I cannot remember the last time I was calm and collected toward changing classes or friends or even the usual café that my friends and I go to. The hardest change to date would have to be puberty, which forced my body to change in all sorts of ways. I started sweating, and acne became decoration. I started getting used to a monthly visitor who was not as friendly as expected. And I had to accept these changes no matter how uncomfortable they made me.

Depending on the perception one has toward change, following through with the change that has been made becomes a somewhat difficult task. It can somehow become tedious to think about the adjustments that need to be done like waking up early in the morning in order to own the day or going to bed early with hopes to create a healthy sleeping routine.

Lao Tzu, the ancient Chinese philosopher and writer, describes change as such: “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Do not resist them, that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”

Be it the loss of a loved one, moving to a completely foreign land or even the tiny reforms that happen in the workplace need a certain amount of getting used to, and this can mentally seem painful.

Resistance is the most common reaction toward this fear of the unknown, commonly known as change. One can say that this reaction has been noticed in Ethiopia ever since the Prime Minister took power. I still remember my resistance toward econometrics and protractors.

The fact, however, still stands that change is inevitable if not necessary. Regardless of the entity, the condition and reaction, in the words of Sam cook, “change is going to come.”

Being prepared to adjust to the changes that will inevitably come one’s way helps one take responsibility for the outcomes of life instead of blaming the rain or the traffic or the Prime Minister. There is, of course, always an exception to the rule, such as death or accidents or the like.

Even more terrifying than the physical change is change or transformation that is happening within a person. As a human being, through time, we start developing personalities and qualities that are both good and bad. And since these things have been nurtured and fed our entire lives, changing the flaws one has can be one of the most challenging acts.

That is why a person who has lived as a cynic for a long time struggles to become a believer of any sort. Of course, changing from a pessimist to an optimist is not always easy for everyone. According to a study done in 2013, scientists found that some people are genetically predisposed to negative thoughts; which is to say that regardless of the situation, these people cannot help but see adverse outcomes.

These people are again the exception to the rule. Because the rule says, change is constant.

So, how does one cope with change? Well, these are things that helped me a little. The first and the obvious step is believing that regardless of the acceptance of change, the fact remains that there is always change.

Although challenging, asking for help is also a reliable way to go through change.

The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, “Life involves peaks, troughs, swirls and pits. These peaks and troughs create movement and change. The swirls and the pits require alteration of the mind and the thought. The faster one accepts its inevitability, the sooner one can move on to bigger and better things.”

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PUBLISHED ON Jul 13,2019 [ VOL 20 , NO 1002]

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