"That's never happened before."
How many times do people say that daily? About news, about technology, about clothes and fashions, about music, about themselves even. I hear this phrase a lot at college. It is said in such amusement and wonder. As if in our 18-25 years of life we know it all and nothing can change. This amazes me especially when we talk about ourselves.
One day your body does something different for some reason -- maybe you ate something a bit strange, or walked a bit further, or slept too long, and your body changed because of it. This change comes as such a shock. I've lived with myself 19 years (a brief quarter or so of my life) and something had changed? How can this be so? We are so positive that we know ourselves perfectly, and are surprised at any new discoveries that come our way. This confusion can sometimes revert to fear, as things unknown, new and different usually do. It is so interesting how as we age, new things frighten us -- even things about ourselves.
Especially in these most formative years of life, we're surprised by changes. People we've known our whole lives mature (or we do and they do not) -- we like a food we've hated all our lives -- a place we've loved since birth turns into a haunted memory because of one wrong. These things change. Seasons continue to bring about new life and death. Learning to deal with these differences is learning to be a mature adult. It's hats at first, no one really likes change, but in the end, is all worth it.
The idea is to keep in mind the positive change as well. It is not always a change that leaves you filled with longing and nostalgia. Sometimes it's beautiful. One day your attitude changes, and you don't care what other people say about your looks anymore -- you don't miss the person your heart has been breaking to see for so long -- a song that helped you through a bad spot is now a victory song instead of one to cry to. These fluctuations in life are what make it beautiful. How boring would things be if everything always stayed the same? I know that in my narrow existence, there will be thousands more times when I, myself, will see things and say “That’s never happened before” and I am looking forward to every single one of them.
