Change is occurring all around us. We cannot stop it, and resisting it will only incur anxiety; spending our energy on resisting change is pointless. We should strive to embrace change, and feel comfortable knowing that everything around us is in a constant state of flux. Atoms vibrate and bounce around to and fro, undulating to the forces around them. All living creatures are slowly evolving over time, changing into something stronger, or more adaptable to their environment. If we look at the creatures that inhabited the earth a few centuries ago, they would be considered almost alien to the life that now resides on the planet. Knowing what comes next is impossible, however, it’s easy to assume that something different will be here at some point in the future. I doubt very much that the earth will look like it does today in five thousand years time.
I will bring a concept in that we talked about already, but one that will come up frequently: we are a living part of the universe, which itself is alive. Just like the living beings inside of our bodies, the bacteria, we experience life along side of them, just as they are experiencing life. We experience life along side the universe, just as it experiences life. The universe likes change, because change is exciting! Variety and evolution and moving pieces is what stirs the pot, and without it, life would be stagnant and boring.
Imagine going to a casino, if you were a betting person, and playing a game of chance. The first time you roll the dice, you won! Wow, that would be very exciting, indeed. Now, imagine the second time you roll the dice, and again, you win. Great! Not as grand as the first time, but still fun and enjoyable. Then, imagine you win again, and again, and again, until you have won so many times in a row that you’ve lost track of how much winning you’re doing, and instead your mind shifts to how boring it is to only win.
Winning is only enjoyable if there is a chance at losing. If there is no risk, then winning is not exciting, and will quickly get stale. This same concept applies to much of life, because without the opposite side of the coin, the front side doesn’t have any meaning.
Our bodies and the cells within it are constantly changing. From the food we eat, to the water we drink, and even to the sunlight we are exposed to, all of it is affecting us on a cellular level. These changes are imperceptible to us, at least at first, but changes can continue and alter our lives one way or another. We can also influence our bodies and our cells to change direction towards good health. DNA gets damaged all the time, but it can also be repaired.
The constant battle between DNA damage and repair is a central theme in cellular biology, with significant implications for aging and disease. As one scientific review notes:
“The human genome is subject to constant damage through a combination of endogenous and exogenous factors. Multiple pathways are required to restore the structure and the sequence of DNA once damage has occurred, and these systems are essential to maintain genomic integrity and stability.” – Jalal, S., Earley, J. N., & Turchi, J. J. (2011).
Citation: DNA Repair: From Genome Maintenance to Biomarker and Therapeutic Target. Clinical Cancer Research, 17(22), 6973–6984.
I’ll give you a personal example of this as well. I became heavily interested in the practice of fasting (going prolonged period without eating any food). I researched the topic a ton, watched a lot of videos, read books on the subject, and listened to podcasts. The reason for this was I was significantly overweight, and about 6 years ago I wanted to change that, so I began my journey into a healthier lifestyle.
I started cooking at home, measuring my food and ingredients, and conducting a daily fasting routine known as OMAD or “one meal a day”. Basically, I wouldn’t consume anything all day, and then have dinner in the evening.
By doing this, I allowed my body to recover from the processed foods I had been consuming, and it healed my gut microbiome and relived pressure on my internal organs. Eventually, through a combined effort of working out and this new lifestyle, I was able to lose over eighty pounds and enter a healthy weight range. Now, my hormones are balanced and I have a great relationship with food and exercise activity.
These processed foods and unhealthy products interfere with our body’s hormones at unprecedented levels, and in order to regain homeostasis, we need to cut them out of our lives.
Underscoring the topic at hand, it is clear that we can change and influence the world around us to change too. Not all change is good, and not all change is bad. It’s the mixture of both that is exciting and captivating.
Imagine, dear reader, that there is nothing to hold on to. The earth is a rock in space, flying around at intense speeds, and we are trying to hold on. We hold on for dear life, hoping that nothing will change! We grab tight and clench our muscles; but why not just let go?
Let go of the idea that there’s something to hold on to. Become comfortable with the fact that you’re flying thorough space, with little more to help you than gravity.
The good news is that you get to decide how you respond to change.
According to Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist and philosopher, there is space between the stimulus and the response. This could be the change we were talking about before, or unexpected news. After a change or event, there’s an opportunity for you to chose how you respond, rather than simply reacting out of habit, fear, or panic. This is the idea of emotional regulation and conscious decision-making.
You then have the power to choose your own response. You may not be able to control changes around you, but you have the absolute power over your response. Further, it might not be just a physical action (or inaction), but it’s also your attitude, thoughts and feelings that go into it. You can choose to interpret the change as a devastating loss or as a challenging opportunity. You get to decide if you feel despair or to feel determined.
Once you realized that your thoughts and feelings are not determined by external events, you are no longer a victim of circumstance. This will provide you with a feeling of agency and control, even among chaotic life events, because you feel secure and you no longer depend on the world around you.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor Frankl
Wonderful blog, Ryan!
Thank you