According to my taxi driver this morning, a change is as good as a rest. Maybe it was because I hadn’t had my coffee yet, but I started wondering if that was really true. Is change really restful? What are the benefits of change?
I often find that people see change as a quite stressful experience. Certainly initially. The unfamiliar ‘chaos’ can be hugely challenging and quite scary. Especially if it has been imposed on you ie if you have been made redundant or at the receiving end of a relationship break up.
And yet, change can also be the most exhilarating and powerful situation imaginable! The thrill of the new perspective. You can almost literally see people and your everyday life in a completely new and invigorating way. However, it got me thinking about whether the grass really is always greener.
Think about moving house. According to research, one of the most stress-inducing activities in contemporary society. I accept that many people have an aversion to moving, however a conversation with a friend made me see things differently as she absolutely loves moving and I was curious to know why.
She was telling me how when she was growing up, she would move the furniture around her room, even though with only a miniscule room, she could only move her bed to no more than 3 positions without blocking herself in. She said that she loved waking up with a different view of the world after having done it as it always emotionally and physically energised her.
As she has got older, she now moves house almost every year. The practicalities have changed and yet, she still loves the ‘buzz’ of moving. She is more than aware of the irony that the only constant in her life is the element of change, yet she would have it no other way.
Perhaps a more cynical person would say that she is commitment-phobic. Or that change for change’s sake is not ‘healthy’. All I know is that she is happy and has found something that works for her. Maybe she will find in her future that this is no longer true. I know she will deal with that if the time comes and if anything, embrace more change.
But why is change necessary? Is it necessary? Is the grass really always greener? Like most things, it depends how you see it. Or perhaps how you choose to see it. There will always be something ‘better’ elsewhere if that’s how you choose to see the world. However, is that not true for us all? Is it just how we deal with it that differs?
In hindsight maybe my friend is simply always looking for a new perspective. Or maybe she has itchy feet and is a commitmentphobe? Either way, she is happy with her life. Is that not what everybody is looking for?
So, when did you last wake up really looking forward to your day? When did you last turn your own metaphorical bed around? Maybe you like it where it is and if so, you are very lucky to love what you have. If you don’t, what’s stopping you? Someone once told me ‘if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got’.
If you love where you are at in your life, keep doing what you are doing. But if you don’t, try doing something different. If it doesn’t work, you can go back to where you were at before. And maybe the grass wasn’t greener after all. But what if it does work? You then have the choice. You can either go down the newer, ‘greener’ road or you can choose to stay where you are after having re-evaluated your situation. And what’s more, you may then get what you want. And greener grass or not, wouldn’t that be the most wonderful change of all!
