Changing Seasons

I haven’t been one to like change. The unknown, the new routine, the new feeling, the new surrounding, the new people, the new (fill in the blank) has always left a feeling of longing for what came before, even if what came before while I was in it, didn’t feel so great. But the fact remains that change comes regardless, regardless of how I feel about it.

I have a son, Evan, who just started kindergarten. I can feel the wave of a new stage of life washing over me. Not only because it’s a new phase in his life, but because it has been a time of transition for us all. This pandemic has come with a force for change that is pushing each of us, no matter who you are or whether you want to or not, to reexamine and rethink everything. From schooling to socializing, dining to shopping, the magnifying of disparities and inequities. The change is all rising up, and in reality, in many ways needed. Why not have the option to learn remotely, why not order your clothes online and pick them up in the store later, why not offer the flexibility and adaptability that life requires, why not finally face and change the injustices we’ve accepted, why not shake the ground so that we can settle into a new and more awakened way of life.

When my son makes requests of me and expects me to respond instantly, I often find myself telling him, “Hey little guy, I’m not a robot.” Or when he wants to spend too much time on a device, I tell him, “Hey little guy, you’re not a robot.” Then why have we lived our lives for so many years as if we are? Robots. Walking blindly. Living on autopilot. Operating under conditions, rules, and structures that were established so many decades ago, that if examined closely need overhauling. The same in our own lives. Just because that’s the way you’ve always done things, doesn’t mean that’s the only way. Just because you’ve responded to the same situations in the same ways, doesn’t mean it’s the only option.

We are in a time that is demanding of us to think and be anew, to be open to life, to give way to what once might’ve seemed impossible for us. So let’s together breathe in the change, and exhale whatever has been waiting to exit. The time has come. It is not easy, but it is needed and inevitable. I know that on the other side of this change, each of us will be better than we were before. I have faith in that.