The Winds of Change
Change is the only constant in life. I’ve felt it more strongly in the past couple of weeks because I’ve learned about the sudden and/or expected departure of multiple friends and acquaintances. My next-door neighbor told me as he was moving out, he was going to take care of his ailing mother, a friend at work announced she had gotten into a PhD program on the East Coast, one of my supervisors at work has stepped down from his position to take a new job at NASA Headquarters, another friend at work is moving from California to Italy to reunite with her boyfriend, and the person who cuts my hair has since left the shop after nearly 2 years. All these events occurred in a span of less than three weeks, and I would be lying if I said it didn’t make me feel a touch of sadness. I understand that everyone is simply doing what is best for them at this point in their lives, and I am generally supportive of people taking control of their lives and doing what they feel is right.
But good-byes are hard for me. They always have been, and they probably will always be. The ephemeral nature of our very existence on this beautiful blue dot of a planet can sometimes seem like a cruel joke of the cosmos. The time we are given as humans is so miniscule in comparison to the ages of stars, planets, galaxies, and the universe at large. For billions of years, the universe evolved without us, and it will continue to evolve with only our passive observation, not our active input. Without as much as an insignificant fraction of time in the universe’s life, we too will eventually say our final good-byes.
Okay, I don’t want to depress myself or you, dear reader, any more than I already have. All I am here to say is that change is happening, and it will continue to happen time and time again. I will end this post with this little poem I mentally wrote out when thinking about the changes I’ve personally been experiencing.
The winds of change are blowing
They’re blowing right past me
Is there any way of knowing
If these changes will set me free?
