Change is within all of us. It is underneath the surface of our skin, right in between the person we used to be and the person we want to become. The truth is, there is no peace in stagnancy. Everything and everyone that has ever come before you, and will ever come after you, was forced into the hands of change in the exact way they were eased out of those same hands. We have all wanted things to change, stay the same, or go back to how they were at some point. But, fearing change before it happens only puts you through it twice.
We were born transitional creatures. I know this for certain because it is exemplified in everything at all times. It is in how the seasons change, how a fetus grows in its mother, how we learn to ride a bike, and even how paint dries on a canvas. Everything in life is so incredibly patient and takes time to fully embellish. No matter how big the transition is, there will always be the person you were before and the person you are after. You may not even recognize the person you are in between, but there is power in knowing that the flow of consciousness is called just that: a flow. That is because standing still when you were meant to keep going is the quickest way to damage your potential.
As teenagers, our high school experience is built around change. I think that is the most important form of change because that is the time in our lives when we build the foundation for the adults we will become. You grow up, and you grow beyond the version of yourself that you were yesterday. Slowly, all those yesterdays become the past and they start to look like a different person than the one you look at in the mirror today. You discover parts about yourself that might have been in small spots you couldn’t recognize before.
Nostalgia for something or someone you used to be proves you have done something valuable enough to be missed. That does not have to be some tragedy, because every so often you will find that all you had to do was to grow apart so that you could truly grow within. Learn to fall in love with the constant circulation of change that is your life, and be grateful you get the awareness to witness it at all.
