Change, change, change
Life is marked by near-constant change. From decade to decade, year to year, and moment to moment. The one thing that we can always count on is change proving inevitable.
Who I was a decade ago appears like a stranger to whom I am now. In recent years I’ve gotten married, switched jobs a few times, moved to a new small town, bought a little home, learned to become a better cook, began growing a garden, and contended with a few of my vices. Now I stand firmly in the middle portion of my life (assuming I live to age 80) and am experiencing the changes the 40s bring as a woman. Fun stuff.
As I stand today looking both backward and forward, it’s felt like a long life – yet the future also feels like it’s coming quick. I’m now trying to wrap my mind around the possibility of someday retiring, as someone who previously assumed it would never happen and therefore never saved for it. Learning about investing at a time when the market appears like a bubble ready to pop, pondering on questions pertaining to social security and pensions 20 years down the road. Wondering about the hormonal changes and what they will inflict upon my body over time, as well as contemplating updated medical information on aging women’s health to aid in this process. One decade the experts say this, then the next decade they say the opposite, leaving us all nervous about the quality of expert opinions. Especially when the name of the game these days is sales and growth, creating great incentives for fudging numbers and falsifying data.
Then there’s the U.S. political environment and the circus it’s become. The divisions are everywhere with people one camp or the other and endlessly lampooning the one they view themselves as against. It’s stupid, tiring, unproductive, but unlikely to end anytime soon. In this current phase, it’s nearly impossible to argue that we’re a serious people. But some past decades we were, and perhaps someday we will be again.
Even the music has changed over time. We’ll likely never again see in our lifetimes such a creative time as that which existed in the 20th century. Yet here we are in the 21st century facing incredible technological innovations – a different type of creativity. Where it all goes from here is anybody’s guess.
I’m not the best at adapting to changes, but I’m working on it. Helps to acknowledge both the potential benefits and consequences since few things stack up entirely on one end of the spectrum or the other. Either way, the world slows down for nobody. So, this will serve as my public journal while I navigate this leg of the journey and reflect back on what’s come before.