My New Philosophy

I was definitely tired last night when I climbed (literally, because I am on the top bunk) into bed at 2 o'clock in the morning. So why, I ask you, even when I'm unbelievably tired can I still not fall asleep right away? It took me at least an hour to finally fall asleep last night. The last time I looked at the clock is was 3:13. Last night I just lay in bed thinking. Thinking about a lot of stuff because an hour is an awfully long time, ESPECIALLY when you can't sleep.

As I lay in bed changing positions every few minutes I suddenly wished I were at home in my nice warm waterbed. If I were at home in my nice warm waterbed maybe I could sleep better. Come to think of it, if I were at home in my nice warm waterbed I would actually be home. Maybe that's the source, maybe that's why I can't sleep at night. So this brought me to an interesting question; the question of change.

I know what you're thinking, change isn't a question. In fact, it's more of a fact. The fact is, life changes, and quite often at that. But the question I find is whether we want change. And the truth is, we don't. Nobody likes change. They may claim they like change, but they really don't. They only say that because they know something is different and there's nothing they can do about it. Kudos to those people who claim to like change, because certainly they are the most optimistic people.

So normally I don't even recall what I thought about the night before, but today I was reminded in my Theatre Appreciation class (that I was almost late to, by the way). The topic of discussion today was the play "The Cherry Orchard." Since I'm assuming most people haven't heard of this play, I will tell you that the main theme is change. So the entire topic was about change. And my professor's theory on change, you ask? He says that we fear change because in order to change we must leave our comfort zone.

Now I am definitely one to admit that I don't like change. I mean, come on, I've had the same exact ringer on my cell phone since the day I got it almost two years ago. I fear change. I want to avoid it as much as possible. But you know what, you can't avoid change, it's inevitable. The question is not whether we want change because the answer is obvious. The question is whether we want change to change us. When change occurrs you can accept that change happened and go along as if nothing is different, or you can let the change change you.

So I leave you with this bit of information in hopes that we will learn to understand that change is a fact, but more importantly a choice. Life is change. But growth is optional. Choose wisely.

Katherine