I am sure some of you have met an old friend, and during the conversation you’re told you have changed. I never thought you had this in you. Or your thinking is different.

Well, I’ve heard that many times. Too many times.

But old versions of you are like the cute little naive child, always trying to please everyone, now grown. Different features, a different way of thinking and acting; some will never allow themselves to accept. Know that their understanding of you is shaped by the limited interaction and specific situation they had seen you in, and you don’t have to change to fit into their comfort zone of what they once knew you to be. Comfort is a silent addiction that will rob you of your ambition, weaken your discipline and deny your dreams.

Seasons change; people change.

The problem some people have is to embrace change. They want relationships to remain unchanged, our youth to last, success to last, our health to be permanent. But reality changes things and people.

All conditional things are impermanent.

In our determination to hold on or our demand for permanence, that’s where the source of suffering starts: from a world built on change that we are not adapted to. I see this within my own family. They, like others, prefer an existing arrangement simply because it is already in place and often evaluate what they may lose by accepting a change.

This is when life becomes stressful for individuals who must live with others’ passive attitude of not allowing change to take place.

But you and I are allowed to become someone our younger selves did not know how to imagine. Instead of trying to change people’s opinions, do as I have done. Use them as an opportunity to understand yourself better.

Just to explain why an explanation is not needed every time they misunderstand you. At the end of the past week, I decided to do laundry. Now, this is not the first time that someone has tampered with my clothes in the laundry. So, as of recently, I would stay with my clothes to finish. A gown I had worn many times was in the dryer. I had left the laundry room for a short time before going back and sitting in the room until the clothes were finished drying. On taking out the clothes, I noticed a few large black beads. I thought: What the hell? I placed them on the dryer and left the room.

As soon as I got upstairs, I made a video. Explaining that I don’t know what was wrong with individuals touching things that do not belong to them. I even mentioned that if there was any

evil intention, may it return to the person 100-fold. I took out the clothes from the basket, sprayed them with some Lysol before shaking and folding them. Only to find out that the beads were from the gown. LOL. The straps that go around the neck that the beads were on were torn away from the dress. I rushed downstairs, thankful that no one had removed them, and picked them up.

The point I’m trying to make is this: had I immediately posted the video online, and someone who had heard me while it was being made saw me from the camera in the laundry room picking them up, they could have used the video to discredit me in some way. May have succeeded.

My impatience to verbalize the incident was triggered by past issues, and the fact that the gown was washed many times before. So, innocently, I spoke. Did I correct myself out loud—no. Because whatever label those listening when I spoke out had already put on me is not defined by their perception of me, but rather by how I choose to grow as a human being. At times, it is useless to explain, because some people will never understand you.

Thanks for reading. Until my next post, take care of yourself and each other!