September 2, 2010 Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

     Sometimes within hours of lay-offs or terrorist attacks, or natural disasters, the after effects begin to wash over us. This time period right after may involve going through the stages of grief including, denial, anger, and acceptance. Within days, weeks, and sometimes months or years comes change, change for those who have to start over and change for those who were affected indirectly. The past couple of weeks, I’ve watched so many go through the anger, sadness, and acceptance stages of grief over the transition of this island, and I’ve been through most of the stages myself, but if you think about it, you may realize that life is constantly changing in one way or another.
     For example, raising kids is different month to month and year to year as they grow and go through the stages of childhood and adolescence, and as adults, we too are always gaining experience and maturing in one way or another, so we never view things quite the same way from one year to the next. As far as change goes, you have to roll with it or risk being crushed by it. The saying goes that people don’t change, but I don’t think that’s true. I maintain that we change throughout life. Let me clarify that statement with an example. My son was born with a very stubborn personality, and he will always be stubborn, but he can learn how to control that stubbornness and calm his emotions, which allow that stubbornness to work for him at appropriate times. He is already learning this, and he is only 6. My oldest was born with my Type A Perfectionist, People-Pleaser gene, but as he grows, he’ll learn how to mange the stress that comes with that and hopefully how to let go of things that don’t have to be absolutely perfect all the time. Note: I grammar and content check every one of these journals before I post, but I know there will still be mistakes at times, so I limit my obsessive-compulsive tendencies with editing and let the rest go. Can't you tell? :)
     Have you ever noticed how grandparents and parents change as they grow older? Grandparents are never as strict on their grandchildren as they were on their kids, and in general, the older generation becomes less concerned about what others think and about being so hard on their kids than they were when they were younger. That’s change, and it’s a good thing. The bottom line is that change is simply a repeating stage in our lives, and right now, life on the atoll is all about change and transition, so get ready to tuck and roll! Hey, maybe I need to change the name of this blog to “Atoll Transitions” since that seems to be my main topic for the last few posts!