Dealing with Change

My most recent psychologist has helped me answer and understand one of the most perplexing problems that I have had to deal with.  This problem is that I find it very difficult to deal with change.  I am one of those people who prefer constancy over change.  Of course, sometimes I do enjoy having some change around, but I generally enjoy constancy.  I do enjoy variety once in a while, but I think that I enjoy constancy more.

Therefore, dealing with change is a very difficult concept for me.  I am especially saddened to see people leave.  I am also saddened to have a happy situation end.  I am saddened at the end of a touching movie.  All these things, all these changes in stories and in real life affect me deeply.

My psychologist suggested that there are actually two aspects of a person.  One is the animal side of us.  The animal side of us requires constancy.  This includes sleeping and eating, and the daily mundane tasks that we want to do every day.  They are important to us since we are animals.  On the other hand, there is the human element of us.  That human element desires change.  It desires variety and new situations, ideas, or circumstances.  

That human element would probably not be content if we were to stay in one room or live in that room for the rest of our lives.  That human element of us wants ourselves to grow, and to undergo personal growth.  Therefore, this contrasts with the animal side of us, which wants change.

Therefore, how do we reconcile these two aspects?  Well, the psychologist said that it’s important to recognize that change occurs all around us and all the time.  Change is occurring every second of the day, in every situation.  Everything is changing.

Therefore, what we must do is to try to adapt to change.  We must change ourselves in anticipation of the change.  That’s one aspect.  

The other aspect is that we can also have some aspects where we remain constant.  Therefore, as we move and progress through our lives, we have both a constant element and an element that is changing.  

The constant elements are not always the same, and neither are the changing elements.  However, as we move through life, it is important to have some apsectsof our lives  that are the same and do not change–at least for a while, while other aspects of our lives are changing.  This is important for us to balance our lives.