Category: Change

How Do You Deal With Constant Change?

Everything seems to happen rapidly in today’s world — and it is only speeding up. How can we deal with that constant change?

The pace that things are changing now is impressive. Just a hundred years ago, things were drastically different. Automotive flight was in its infancy. Radio and newspaper were the primary forms of communication — there was no TV, no Internet.

Even 50 years ago would seem like a time capsule to today’s youth. Color television was just a few years old. Computers were massive machines that took up entire rooms.

In addition to significant technological change, there have been large social changes as well. Examples include women’s liberation, the rise of social media, and legalization of gay marriage.

Of course, there were changes, often momentous ones, in decades and centuries past. However, the speed at which these revolutions in science, technology, and culture take place is getting faster and faster. For instance, the telephone took more than a century from invention to widespread use. Television took decades, and then the smartphone just a few years.

People, though, remain largely the same. Life expectancy has increased, yes, and we know more about our health and the way our bodies work. But our brains are the same ones that evolved over hundreds of thousands of years.

With that in mind, it is remarkable that humans have managed to adapt as well as we have over the last century or two. However, there are signs that even our flexible brains are having difficulty taking in our information-heavy, rapidly-evolving existence.

How do you deal with the speed of today’s society? Does the 24-hour news cycle impact you negatively? Do you chase the latest smartphone model, and if so, what happens when you get it? How often do you feel overwhelmed?

Related questions: What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Are we too busy? How do you deal with major life changes? What technology most impacts your life?

What Change To Your Identity Have You Had To Accept?

Establishing an identity can be hard. Updating that identity can be even harder, if it means changing the way you think of yourself.

A useful exercise in self-awareness is determining who you are. That might include your values, interests, and aspirations. Once you determine who you are and who you want to become, that knowledge can help guide your actions. It can shape how you see yourself, and how you talk about yourself. As a result, that can influence how others see you.

Sometimes, though, the identity that you use to help how you think of yourself has to change. There might be several different reasons for this change — perhaps you have just evolved as a person. Or maybe health problems limit how you live your life. Cultural changes, a new job, or a personal realization can all be catalysts for change.

If your identity is equivalent to your own self, then a change to that identity might well mean that you are no longer the person you used to be. This can be difficult to accept. For all that we change over time, it is natural to think of yourself as constant and unchanging. The rest of the world might change, but not you.

As you have aged and matured, how has your personal identity changed? Has that, in turn, led to an update in how you see yourself? Have you had to accept a personal change that was a surprise or that was in some way unwelcome?

Related questions: Who are you? How have you changed? What are your values? How do you demonstrate your values?

What The Hell?

What the hell?

It feels like our country has shifted into the bizarro world. Whether it’s rules, social norms, or politics, what was once accepted is now rejected, and what was previously dismissed is now embraced. Ideas we believed a generation, a decade, or even a year ago now seem outdated or have been completely overturned. What the hell?

For example, overt lying is now common in politics, and most of the public accepts it. In fact, spreading lies is widespread. However, not long ago, when those lies were exposed, a politician’s approval ratings would drop—unless, of course, they soon showed genuine remorse.

Or, whatever happened to treating people with respect, kindness, and a little grace? We live in an era where friendships are ending because everything has become political, and disagreements turn into hatred. Family members don’t talk to each other or even disown one another over political differences. And some politicians label their opponents as evil or even compare them to subhuman creatures — for example, our president often calls opponents animals or vermin. When and why have we let so much harshness into our private and public lives?

Lastly, social media isn’t bringing us together, even though we can connect with people across the globe. Instead, our feeds are filled with rumors, lies, and bullying, which turn people away from forming new relationships—unless, of course, the people we meet share our beliefs.

We’re confused, angry, overwhelmed — and worst of all, numb. When everything feels upside down, it’s hard to know where to turn or whom to trust. So many have checked out, opting for apathy instead of action, because what good does caring do anymore? Every day brings a new contradiction, a new reason to shout, yet we stay silent. Or worse, we laugh it off. Cynicism has replaced hope. We’ve started accepting the absurd as normal because fighting it seems pointless. But shouldn’t we fight? Shouldn’t we care? Shouldn’t we be trying to find ways to rebuild community?

What’s going on? What the hell?

Related questions: Why do we put up with unhappiness? What is truth? Where is society failing? How do you deal with uncertainty?

What Can I Do?

When events are chaotic, or things change very rapidly, oftentimes people ask the question: “What can I do?”

It is only natural to want to take control of a situation that feels out of control. In order to do that, we want to take action, even if it is not clear what that action should be.

Take a moment to consider what action is appropriate. It may also help to consider what is possible. Where those two things overlap, meaningful steps can be taken.

For example, let’s consider someone who is having trouble at work. Feeling it necessary to do something, they might, say, perform a deep clean of their home. Cleaning feels like progress, and while having a clean home is a good thing, it doesn’t have any impact on the actual problem. The action is possible, but not appropriate.

A lot of people are feeling helpless or powerless right now. In reality, each person has more power and more control than they realize.

So how do you tap into that? What can I do in order to make a difference? How can we overcome the despair that tells us the situation is out of our hands?

Related questions: How much power does an individual have? How can you help? How can we turn ideas into actions? How can we turn sadness into constructive action?

Should We Respect Institutions?

In the news today, there is a lot of talk about institutions that are present in our lives. How important is it to respect those institutions?

There are many organizations and structures — institutions — that exist in modern day society. Some help people, but some are used to take advantage of them. Some maintain fairness for everyone, but others make discrimination and unfairness official.

There is also a growing movement to radically change or even dismantle some of these structures. That instinct is understandable, particularly when they are perceived to be causing an injustice of some sort.

One problem that arises is that different groups disagree on which organizations are beneficial, and which ones need to be reformed. I might think that Department A is important, but Department B is not. You, on the other hand, feel the exact opposite. What should we do?

Two questions seem relevant: 1) How do we determine the relative importance of each individual institution? 2) In the case where an institution needs change, what is the best way to implement that change?

Our society thrives on stability. The stock market depends on it. Consumer confidence relies on it. Even an individual’s sense of safety and security in their community can be impacted by instability.

With that in mind, should we be making changes to our institutions at all? Even the ones that could be made more fair and even? But if we don’t change, are we accepting the flaws that currently exist in the system?

In many ways, our lives are ruled by the structures all around us. Do we show them respect, and what does “respect” even mean in this instance?

Related questions: How important is respect? What role should government play in our lives? Who has power? What are our responsibilities to others?