There is something frightening about change. A feeling that one feels at the very pit of their stomach as they leap from the cliffs edge into the unknown. Who can tell what the future holds other than the march of time to witness it? However long that road is, we each individually must all march step by step on it.

Once embarked on, however, a journey is inevitable. There are some who look to the past as their feet keep marching forward living in a land of nostalgia and regret at all the cozy times their mind could muster of times before.

While others look firmly ahead to the road in-front as they squint and broaden their eyes hoping to see any glimpse of what lies in their path.

Yet there is a group that neither looks far forward as to perpetually miss the minute details of the steps in front nor crane their necks backward to seek comfort at the solidified step behind. Hands in pockets and with a straight back they smile lazily as they stroll in tandem with their two compatriots.

As with any journey, however, obstacles come the way of all travelers and all three groups deal with them quite differently. The traveler who lives in the past is the least prepared one as they stumble and stagger blindly stepping from one stone to the next while their mind feverishly cries for the safety and comfort of steps that can never be retaken again.

The past is safe because it was understood.

It was easy and comfortable and no matter what happened today, they knew that tomorrow would be more of the exact same. This group is the most adverse to change and the one that has the hardest time adjusting to it. But adjust they must because nothing remains the same through the test of time.

On the other hand, the ones that only look forward in an effort to predict the coming obstacles, so they could time their jump just so in order to leap over them fail to miss the steps right below their feet. They rise higher with each jump, never fully appreciating the extent of their reach nor the way they rise effortlessly above the ground. Their mind is fully zoomed into the next obstacle in their path. The next thing they must achieve.

Change is something to be conquered in the eyes of this group because it is only through conquering change that one can fully wrest power from it. Instead of being dictated by the fickle laws of the road, they seek to impose their own will on the road and seek some measure of freedom from it.

Yet their biggest flaw is the way they view the road; as an enemy to be conquered rather than an old friend to dance along with.

Change is hard. Change is long and arduous though sometimes it may seem like it’s swift and sudden. It is frightening to most living things because one never truly knows if they’ll make it to the other side. But change is inevitable. Nothing ever stays the same. That is the nature of the beast. It’s understanding this simple fact that the third group stroll through the road as they fulfill the required movement needed to bypass whatever obstacles comes their way.

Every step they take, they marvel at the way their feet hit the ground, the way their knees bend, their arms swing, their eyes scan, and the way their mind flutters.

Extending their head back, they laugh at the absurdity of it all. With each obstacle that comes their way, they perfect their dance just a little bit each time all the while grinning in anticipation of the next. They neither seek what’s on the road ahead nor yearn for the step they just took. It is the step they’re currently on that captivates their full attention.

Change is hard for this group like all others. They stumble and trip sometimes and their foot gets snagged in vines and coils in others. But they get up and keep dancing noticing the way their bodies shift and move around the next step as they chuckle at their mishap.

Change frightens me because I’m in the first group. I seek comfort in the past because it was easy in the past. I understood it and it was familiar. But I also understand that with anything in life, hone a skill long enough and it becomes a very friendly companion. I can’t become good at predicting the way the world will work come tomorrow, but I can get good at predicting how I will respond to it.

Through understanding myself and slowly changing my mindset from one who seeks comfort in the past to who enjoys the present moment, I know I’ll eventually be able to dance my way around life because that is the way it was meant to be lived.

Neither looking too far forward that I miss everything about the present moment nor looking far enough backward that I yearn and cry for what was and can never be again.

Being frightened is a given in life. What matters is how one deals with it.