We've got a lot of road work going on where I live. Turn lanes are being added. Work crews are out digging around ditches in the median and clearing out drains. Brand new asphalt has been poured on the roads and the drive to and from work, aside from the traffic, is a smoother affair. Good changes. Needed changes. And yet changes like these take time.
I hate change.
My office at work is being renovated. And though the plan is to give the small space a cozier atmosphere, free of clutter, I have my shelves, my binders and I don't want that to change. I liked things the way they were. Everything was at my fingertips. I didn't need or ask for this mania. But life is change. Life changes from one second to the next, with or without our permission.
I fight change as long as I can and then, only because I have no other choice, I accept things I cannot change... like change. I've had loads of experience doing this growing up, moving from one Army post to the next, leaving friends behind, entering new schools, and on and on until I finally found myself entering my own children in new schools and so on and so on. Change is an devilish wench, albeit a necessary evil. Get ye gone!
And yet from the day we're born, to the day we die, we're changing. Without change, we cannot grow. Without digging out the drains and cleaning out ditches in the median, the road ahead of us will flood. It will be murky, rocky and steep.
Viewing the changes I see on the highway, I'm reminded of my manuscript, the avenues of plot laid out with smooth asphalt S curves or W plots, satisfying intersections of motivation and conflict veering off with turn lanes/subplots. The detours we face in revisions and edits, road blocks/walls, highways and byways pose a need for change before achieving that ultimate polish that sets a manuscript apart. Scenes cut. Secondary characters axed. All in the name of improvement, marketability, professionalism. Good changes. Needed changes.
Fall is here. Winter is coming. And in the face of change, I'm bucking like an unbroken Mustang. Change is good. Sometimes change is needed. But oh I'd sure like to give that devilish wench hell in the meantime.
Are you facing any changes? How do you handle change?
Katherine Bone
DUKE BY DAY, ROGUE BY NIGHT 10/29 Crimson Romance
www.katherinebone.com
Change. Hmm. I am your opposite. I embrace change...too much, probably. Norma Jean used to come home from work and make eye contact with me before settling her eyes around on the house and say, "What did you move today?" I am notorious for moving things around. And yet, everything must have a right place. Go figure. I confuse even myself with all the changes! Hahaha. Maybe I just like variety.....
ReplyDeleteHey Lisa, I used to love moving my furniture around a lot, especially growing up. A new hairstyle I can handle because I love changes like that too. It's the big changes in life that trouble me. But I'm sure that's normal. (At least I hope it is). ;)
DeleteLike variety, change is a spice of life. Without it we wither. That said, I don't always embrace it with open arms. Like you, I usually plant my feet and hold out as long as I can, hoping it will leave me be. Fat chance! However, there are times when I just smile and go for it. I've found this to be a far better approach.
ReplyDeleteYou put it so well, Crystal. "Planting fee and holding out as long as you can." We're very much alike. ;)
DeleteI'll keep in mind I need to smile and go for it. :D
The only change I truly like is what I get from a ten dollar bill. Even good change--which I have had my share of lately--takes come getting used to.
ReplyDeleteI am having a hard time accepting track changes. Not a mental problem. The actual mechanics of the think. See? Change.
Jean, it sounds like you handle change well by keeping things in perspective. ;)
DeleteLike Katherine, I don't like change. I know that sometimes it is a good thing and as Crystal said without it we wither but change is sorta like a surprise. Its something out of my control...which everyone knows I am against!
ReplyDeleteOne change that is great though is that I am back on the blog with weekly offering so I some changes can be good.
Glad to have you back, Stephanie! ;)
DeleteChange. Love it or hate it, we can't stop it. I've found that even change I look forward to brings a little anxiety. A few changes I love are autumn after a long, dry summer and spring after a bare, cold winter. Great post, Kathy!
ReplyDeletePat, you are so right about feeling anxiety for change we look forward to as well. Why are we always do anxious? I realized that those feelings are due to the unknown factor. There's only place to turn in those instances. Only one knows which path we will choose to follow.
ReplyDeleteBlessings to you, Pat. Thanks for enjoying my post!!!