Change

Those points where what was, becomes what is. The edge of destruction and creation. The only constant we have. It is a source of joy and fascination for me. It sweeps away the old and allows me to bring those things within which I have nurtured.

I see it in the world around me right now. The trees wake up, the grass turns a little brighter green and the flowers push their heads above the mud. Spring and fall represent the Flux I look forward to every day.

It is in stagnation that I find personal death. The comfort of the known necessitates a lack of growth. It may be safe, but it doesn't allow me to progress. Progress may be messy, and it may hurt a bit, but it is the only guarantee that I will be resilient when change is forced rather than sought after.

For all my hubris and love of self control, I find it impossible to reliably predict where change will happen in my own life. I am left only with the sense of wonder that change should be surprising in any fashion. It is a thing which requires me to change within to adapt, and those things are awesome.

Adaptation is the single largest driver in the natural world. Those things which are able to change and adapt to a changing world are the most guaranteed to survive into the future.

So I embrace change. I adapt. I embrace the growth it brings in the world and within myself. I will not shrink from progress and from seeing people as they are and as they grow. I reject the simple path of obstruction and I will adapt those obstructions to my own growth.

I look at the trees and flowers for inspiration. Over the difficult times, they hibernate and gather their strength. I reflect and think, gathering my own mental and emotional fortitude. Then, with an incredible alacrity, they explode in growth. I will reflect that as well. After reflection comes action, otherwise it is simply mental masturbation.

Over the past couple of years, that change and growth has been largely personal.  As my daughter heads into her future, I am left with a sense of change within myself. For the past 20 years, I have defined myself as her father. Every ounce of effort was for her benefit. An expensive natural effort born of evolutionary expediency. Now I have to decide for myself what I am next.

Yes, sure, a parent's job is never really complete, but you know what I mean. It requires I change. That I grow. That I reflect and explode. In that process I look to my oust and the growth I put on hold. I look to the future and the things I don't know that I don't know and I am excited for both the daughter and myself. We both get a chance to grow.

And growth is what it's all about.