“Thoughts on Change” by Alan Dawidowicz, Washington Heights

topic: CHANGE medium: TEXT

I was hoping to think of something inspiring and uplifting, something that would change your world. Yet the truth is, change is scary. Yes, it is a beautiful, essential part of life- what would be the point of living if everything stayed the same all the time- but change is immensely frightening. What if when I graduate college I don’t find a job? What if the job I find, I end up hating? Or worse yet, what if I find a job I love, and then have the next 50 years of my life to look forward to doing the same thing? It is a double edged sword, this change business. We find comfort in the familiar, in the routine. Yet the idea that change will one day come (dare I say change we can believe in?) gives us hope- until that change actually comes, at which point we scramble to rewind. This could just be the ramblings of a scared twenty one year old, and at a later stage in life, when someone has decided upon their path, change isn’t as worrisome. But I suspect not. I believe this feeling, the knot I get in my stomach when I think about the all consuming “future,” is one that you are all too familiar with. I convince myself to view all of this, life, as a journey, destination unknown. And I try and take solace in the old saying: when you’re scared, at least you know you’re onto something real.