Embracing Change.....

Resistance to change ...Starting from studying it in Newtons law to seeing it in everyday life, I have realized I dont respond well to change ...In things big and small...
I like holding on to my old jeans even if the hems are completely frayed, I dont like too many remixes to the original, I get very uncomfortable if someone adapts a classical song to a western tune, I like to find my stuff in the same place, I experiment with food within certain defined confines, repainting my room is a serious decision to take, I tend to notice and get concerned about small changes in the way people talk, I have always clinged onto anything dear till the point i had no choice but to let go. I even feel sad about throwing my first laptop which hardly boots up and shuts down every 5 min.

Recently i have been forced into a small change i dint so much desire...switching to Office 2007...For some vague reason, we had a mandatory switch to 2007. I lost my old templates, I was searching for options all the time, they have these disappearing panels, and making some changes on a graph seem more work. All of a sudden I am this rookie longing for that straightforward drop down options and trying to figure out a way to cope with this change. It was like having this cool gizmo which you can’t use. The appearance looks better...But won’t i understand the option "filter" without having to look at the funnel? My first panic call happened when what i usually take 15 min to complete was taking me an hour as I was playing this hide and seek with the different options. I called the IT folks who manage this stuff and asked "Is there any way to switch back to the older version?" and the reply was "No, it was a mandatory change"....

It was forced change..I couldn’t undo it. And I was suddenly able to empathize with the old mom's and dads who would wonder what was happening when the Digital TV switch happens and their old analog TV set screen blurs because they didn’t buy some box. I feel the same way about Office 2007.

I was reminded of my dad’s experience. He very much resisted getting absorbed into this Internet dominated world and the compulsion to keep up with this change swept through his life just 2 years before his retirement. And when he first started trying to get the hang of it all, he used to come and very seriously check with me "Would the email have reached by now" 2 days after sending it... :)

This small change also made me think about how I have dealt with change all the while. I like things where they are in most cases. It’s like a relationship of trust has been established. And if things change, it’s work to build it all over again. I like the constancy of the life and love. And though change by itself may be good or bad, it brings with itself a huge uncertainty, expectation and fear. Change however is a constant companion and I am constantly trying to establish my reference.

Change has been good several times too. Moving to a new city, getting married to someone I enjoyed being with, cutting my hair really short and trying to look at the mirror without laughing, wearing a real bright red sweater for the first time in more than 10 years and realizing it wasn’t that bad on me at all, trying to wear shorts and daring to walk past my door in it and also bringing myself to actually start writing stuff about myself in public domain.

Change is what drives us forward, helps us understand ourselves better and makes us stronger…Some are the changes that open up possibilities that excite us, some are the heartbreaking moments which we struggle with, some are the results of the conscious choices we have made and some have just swept us off our feet when we weren’t watching.

I am sure, a couple of weeks from now, my discomfort with this new version of Office would be gone…And something new will step in to challenge my sense of inertia.

“The future has a way of arriving unannounced.” – George Will