Masters of Change

One Day or Day One. You Decide.

Sitting at a Grizzlies game at the FedEx Forum during half time. The entertainment started which hosted a couple that kept changing outfits over and over before our very eyes.

I’d seen the performance before but this time it was as if I was watching it with new eyes. This time I was interpreting a familiar event a new way. What I now saw was there all the time. This time it was not just entertaining magic but a powerful message. I saw this couple as masters of change.

Simply put, they were great at change. And they taught me at least three lessons about change that we all can use. They changed quickly, publicly and beautifully. I loved the new insight. As we know, life will not get better by chance but only by choice. So the better we get at change, the better off we can be.

There are times when you will need the skill of changing quickly. For instance, some decisions that need to be made will not afford you the opportunity to drive home, eat a meal, call a friend and then fast 40 days. Some decisions need to be made quickly. Some windows of opportunity close at a very fast speed and you must be ready to make a decision. There will be times because of where you are going that returning home to say goodbye or to check on a new purchase or to wait on some future death (not necessarily limited to the body) will not be an option. It has been said, “The opportunity of a lifetime can come with a limited lifetime on the opportunity.” Sometimes you must act quickly.

Then, some change happens publicly. This can be somewhat scary but must be done nonetheless. Much change happens on the stage of life with the curtains still raised. Oftentimes, it will seem as if the whole world is watching you undress. And you find yourself overcome with the fear of having your dirty laundry aired before peering eyes.

Next, change can be beautiful. The process can get messy but the outcome is worth it all. It’s beautiful because you can change. No matter who you are or where you are, you can change.

A challenge more often than not is that we all are to some degree or another infected with caterpillar-ism, the refusal to change. It’s not that you cannot change but rather that you will not change. We must all learn to adapt and to change because there is nothing on this earth that is more permanent than change.