Change

Change comes at a price.  The price of leaving behind feelings, experiences, people, places and habits that may have served you very well for a time.  And then that time is over.  Then it is time to move on and find new people, places, feelings and experiences.

Sometimes there is a distinct line when that change happens.  Like a move - when I drive away from the house and again when I begin my new role at work.  And other times things change gradually over a period of time.  Or maybe they've been changing for a while, and the notice of that change happens suddenly.

It's all change.

That change is hard.  It forces one to embrace the newness, the unknown, the untested waters.  It brings with it the promise of opportunity, and the sadness of an ending.  Those endings are always necessary but rarely easy.

This is what I know.

Change is inevitable.  The world, our lives are in a constant state of change.  Those changes are not always easy to embrace - even when self-imposed.  And yet, so immensely necessary.  Without change there would be no evolving, no growth, no development.  And yet, why is it that change remains so difficult?

Perhaps the changes that are the biggest challenge for me are the ones that involve saying good-bye.

Knowing that things will not be the same again.  That's the change.  The evolution.  The good-bye.  Perhaps that's why sometimes to ease the pain, the transition, some say 'see you later' even when it's not true.

I want to be able to say good-bye to all those things not working anymore.  All the things - people - thoughts - patterns that are no longer serving me.  And this appears the time to do just that.  One step at a time.

Moving is forcing me to go through things.  Old things.  Memories.  And some are okay to pack back for a later time.  And some need to be left behind - the purge of what will not be carried forward into the next leg of the journey.

As I recall a time of great change in my life when I walked across the sand at Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester, I found that with just one more step I found the sun peaking from behind the rocks.  It reminded me that without continuing to take one more step, I'd never know what was waiting just behind the next big rock.

Here's to continuing to take steps forward.  To health, happiness and new beginnings.  And to necessary good-bye.....