There is very little that I remember from my dreaded Introduction to Chemistry class, but I do recall that the symbol for change is the triangle.
I was a passive participant in a conversation this morning where my friend remarked that it is so hard to stay married because both spouses undergo a lot of change and you both have to constantly adjust to these changes. It wasn't a novel idea - hearing the "people change" cliche, but it struck me at the right time how right she was.
In a certain way, change is a dreadful scenario most especially when you don't initiate it. I guess there is an element of uncertainty whenever change is introduced by factors, or persons whose thoughts and feelings are beyond the grasp of our control. A real nightmare for a control freak like me.
I'm experiencing, or rather excruciatingly enduring, a major change these days. I know I am in for a major, huge, big (okay, enough with the superlatives) change in the coming months but then again, I was the one who catalyzed those upcoming changes so everything else that will follow is brimming with anticipation and excitement for me - but of course, that's another story. The thing is, when the fervent fire of something good, happy, and comforting seems to be on the verge of fizzling out cold, it is an easy excuse for a panic attack. I guess I just have to remind myself of what I used to tell myself during the heydays - all things come to an end; nothing is permanent. A sizzling love affair could abruptly end, friendship can be broken, success can get trivialized. The end could be brought about by another person's choice, or some twist of fate like separation, or even death. That is probably why people always say (or at least the cynical ones) "Enjoy it while it lasts."
There is always a choice how to deal with the "triangle." One can be bitter or one can be gracious. I personally feel that there is no need to be bitter: yes, I tell and convince myself that there is no need to be bitter (keep that sticking in your head between the fissures of your gray matter, May!). Instead, being gracious and accepting is the way to go. Relive the good times with the optimism that ahead are better times, perhaps under different circumstances, with different people and at different places. Even if things are not the same now, no one can take it away that once, you had something going really, really gratifying. And while some good times are already gone and have abruptly, unceremoniously ended, at least you know that you had and embraced something to be grateful for, once.
In any case, change is good, change fosters growth. Change makes you go to places you haven't been to and wouldn't dare go to before. If you get lucky, you will find out that you can do or feel so much more in that new place which you wouldn't even consider going to in the first place had it not been necessitated by change. Or if you really get lucky, you will discover what you cannot do and where you can't possibly go. Either way, it is definitely an opportunity to "enlarge the territory."
