Go with the Quo

A thread that runs through this blog since its inception is change, and how those of us in Columbia/HoCo respond to it. Some folks have beautiful memories of the way things used to be, and some are just fearful of what might happen in the future. Those who feel ready to be a part of something new feel the pushback.

This lovely piece by Mike Hartley (THREW Mikes EyEz) touches on the feelings of loss and regret when things one has come to rely on begin to go away.

Well some of us better than others at adapting. The older I get the less I feel like adapting. Maybe it’s because I’ve been adapting all my life and I’m tired of it. Maybe I’m getting selfish or lazy or intolerant. I hope those aren’t the reasons.

I’ve sat in plenty of meetings with residents railing against new initiatives and waded through post after post of social media diatribes about what Rouse would have wanted. Hartley captures a sense of what it feels like to see one’s world slipping away that gives me a better insight into where all those angry words are coming from.

He closes his piece with some words of encouragement. It’s hard to tell if they are for the reader or directed toward himself.

I guess I should go think of all the great things that come out of breaking the status quo. And then there are all those new and wonderful things that I’ve incorporated into my new status quo. So I guess the status can be a good or bad quo.

Change can be wonderful. It can also be a challenge. And, as Hartley points out, it is happening little by little, all the time. We learn to transform ourselves along with it, or we struggle. There’s always a little of both.