The Survival of Change
“It’s not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” - Charles Darwin
Hmmmm. The survival of change. I love Darwins take on it. You don’t have to be strong or intelligent, just willing to respond to change. My guess is he meant in a progressive manner.
As a species, we’re drawn and driven by human connection. Introverted or extroverted, it’s literally science. I read The Body Keeps the Score a few months back and it was a massive deep dive in to human trauma. It also spoke to how connection can impact a person. So what do we do when we’re told to stay away from each other? Did we do that?
Yes. For the most part, we did.
But we didn’t leave it at that. We figured out nearly immediately how we can change our interactions and way of meeting. We started calling each other more. We shared more. We expressed how we were feeling more. We embraced technology and figured out how to use it to stay connected.
We changed.
We changed our habits and became resourceful. A hyperawareness was developed around our waste and where and how we spent our time. We no longer think of things just appearing out of thin air like a Hogwarts dinner. We rally together and share our items (when stores run out), our thoughts and ideas.
We changed.
An understanding was developed and a sense of unity grew. The world seems closer. We realized that we’re all human and just doing our best. For the first time in my lifetime (to my knowledge), our nations are all working towards one thing, together. A healthy, safe and economically stable future.
We changed.
The local businesses have been challenged. Some have had to close their doors temporarily to protect their communities and staff. But did that stop them? No. They started pouring out content online. Yoga and fitness studios, restaurants and bars have now created a new business platform. Teachers have brought their practices to a virtual land, reaching geographically further than most thought possible before.
We changed.
We’re stronger than we know. We’re resilient. We’re creative and scrappy. We level up when we need to and adapt to change.
What has your response been? What have you learned?
I’ve learned that we can’t refuse to step forward. We shouldn’t become stagnant. That’s not in the fibers of our being. We can’t take for granted the relationships we have or the places we visit.
We have so many opportunities to seize out of the challenges we face.
We truly needed to come back to ourselves and see what was important. We needed to slow down.
I needed to slow down.
So what has help me ride the wave of change? I take one day at a time. I listen to how others are doing. What do they need? Can I help in any way? I revisited my goals and realized, I hadn’t really given focus to any of them. I was just hustling with my past. I began to work on them, bit by bit, in my new found spare time. I try to find a silver lining from each day. I’ve started to practice Self Care. I also am taking time to pause and journal and reassess.
I say this knowing that I have very much experienced the wind being knocked out of my sails. To not have my studios to run away to when my brain, breath and body refuse to speak to each other. To feel the stress of my family living in a different country where there is an 8hr time difference between us, wanting more than ever to sit down with my mom and dad over a cup of tea and toast looking out the kitchen window. Knowing this will be the first year I won’t be able to see them. To be confined to a small apartment on the fifth floor with another human and now, a crazy puppy who’s being house trained. To not being able to hug people I know when I randomly bump in to them at the supermarket. To not see my co-workers everyday. I’m a quite, reserved person at heart so these were my anchors in society. My human, social connection.
But we all have to change. We all have to move forward. One step at a time. In the wise words of Winnie the Pooh, “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
Until next time,
xxx
