Change Is Tough, But So Are You

I've always romanticized the idea of change. Things always seem so much more exciting when they're new. Daydreaming about the future, thinking about what job I may have when I graduate or where I'll live or who I'll marry - these are the things that pull me away from my boring daily routine. But the older I get, and the more new things that happen to me, the more I realize I hate change.

Change is scary.

It's terrifying being thrown into a new environment or taking on a new role in life or doing something I've never done before. All throughout high school, I looked forward to going off to college. I was told it would be the best four years of my life, but when I showed up to school that first day with my parents waving goodbye to me from our family car that I wouldn't see again for weeks, I felt nauseous. I felt vulnerable and so far removed from my environment. I wanted nothing more than to forget about all my ambitions from high school and just go back home to live with my mom and dad where I felt comfortable.

But the thing about comfort is that it kills.

I didn't realize until after my first year of college just how dangerous comfort can be. If a bird stays in its nest for too long, it will never learn to fly. It will never be able to complete the one task it was born to perform. Humans are the same way. We cannot rely on comfort as our default setting. Change is our destiny. It's in our history books, it's in our politics, and it's even in our DNA. We are biologically designed to evolve. Change is what keeps us moving forward.

That's not to say that change is easy by any means. In fact, change is the hardest thing we encounter in life. Moving to a new city, saying goodbye to a loved one, changing career paths - these things are difficult to withstand. But if there's one thing humans are built for, it's endurance. Things may seem hard at first, but you are built to persevere, and you're a lot tougher than you realize.

Comfort is inviting.

It's safe and it's familiar. But something you must realize in order to grow is that just because something good has ended, doesn't mean that something better won't begin.

Change doesn't mean giving up something, it means using your past as a foundation for your future. The world would not be what it is today without the ideas of those before you. Every day you wake up as an improved version of yourself simply because you choose to rise every morning and take on the day. Change is about growth, not demolition and reconstruction. It is about becoming, of blossoming into a more inspired version of yourself.

Change is strange.

One of the hardest lessons to learn in life is that you have to learn to live in the uncomfortable because change is uncomfortable. You have to learn to live without assurance or direction. But I have some good news for you -- you've done it before. When you were born you cried as you were brought into the world, but no one put you back where you came from. You were raised to adapt to this new world, and throughout your development, you learned to sit up and to walk and talk. You discovered what sunshine felt like and what ice cream tasted like and what the wind sounds like. You grew into this lovely little person who thrived in their new environment.

You've experienced change before, and you have endured. You have become stronger, you have become wiser, and you have changed for the better.

Go, live.

And when you're feeling doubtful, remember that you are exactly where you're supposed to be.