Embracing the New

(personal, opinionated)

Now and then, I like to change something I got used to. It can be a tool that I use, a behavior I became aware of, or even trying to change the perspective on a certain topic. It can be simple things or complex things. I want to share why I learned to love change, why change’s scariness is great. But most importantly, why I think that loving change actually improves your quality of life.

Changing things is fun

Some years back I ditched Android phones, which I had used for almost a decade, and made the transition to an iPhone. Not a big deal, maybe, but still a significant impact if you rely on your phone for so many tasks during the day. Sometimes, I change the way I organize the items in the kitchen or my wardrobe. On the nerdier side of things, I recently decided to switch to emacs and leave behind my loyal vim, along with its oh-so-familiar keybindings. And maybe slightly bigger, this year, I moved from Germany to Brazil.

Some changes I do just for sake of changing something. After all, I think experimenting makes up a huge part of the joy in life. It is directly linked to the discovery and for anyone curious, this is already a delight in its own right. It can be as negligible as picking a different toothpaste every time you go to the drugstore. Or as exciting as digging into a completely different style of music, movie genre, sport, a country’s culture, …

Other changes happen just because they are necessary. External factors can make it attractive, like a change in jobs.

Almost independently of the reason, changes can be very good. Let’s take a look at some merits that I experienced.

Find a better way to do something

How likely do think is it, that the first way you learned to do something is also the best way? If you always eat the same pizza in the same bar, how do you know it’s any good at all? I don’t like the idea of chasing after the best of the best all the time. Neither do I like the idea that you have to optimize every aspect of life. But discarding arbitrary mannerisms from time to time seems like a good idea. As with anything, the truth is somewhere in the middle, not in the extremes.

Can you imagine dressing the same way as you did as a kid? Oh boy.

Stepping out of the comfort zone

This is a good one, especially for those who rather avoid being in unfamiliar situations. Change is freaking scary. If you’ve been a stockbroker for twenty years and now you decide to open up a bakery, you’ll find yourself facing loaves (SCNR) of unknown problems. It can be quite overwhelming. But even small changes may require that you’ll meet new people, converse about topics you have little knowledge of. You’ll have to admit that you're a newbie. I think admitting this will be increasingly difficult the better you are in another area. Make a habit out of being a newbie. It means you’re an explorer! You know the saying: “if you’re the smartest person in the room, change the room.”

My brother doing some explorin’ in the alps!

Keep your brain from jamming

This one is for the overthinkers. A rolling stone gathers no moss, goes the saying. And I think they’re right. Especially when you come from a somewhat conservative and cautious background, it can make a lot of sense to remind yourself: taking a risk doesn’t make you crazy, it’s how anything new begins.

Making regular changes can help a lot to rid yourself of conservatism. Don’t let yourself build up patterns of avoiding change. Ignoring inevitable changes as long as possible is yet another way that is easy to resort to. In the end, it’s rather a choice of when you accept a development than if you accept it. I find it increasingly fun to change things. As a bonus, you can confuse your friends and family and keep their brains agile as well. 

You hungry? Don’t get distracted.

Keeping up in an accelerating world

I think it is obvious that everything is becoming faster and more dynamic. Technology is evolving rapidly and everyone talks about disruptors. It can be scary to position yourself in such an unstable world. Few people have the luxury to rely on stable factors — and it is not certain, that they are stable in the long run. Just look at big corps’ struggle to deal with disrupting competitors.

Instead of retreating to the same old ways to keep everything in place, in the long run, you will have to bend and adapt. I don’t think personal life is much different.

Doesn’t work for you? You’re probably asking too much of yourself.

Moving to Brazil sure was an adventure for me. Some things preoccupied my mind. Some things made me nervous at times. However, at no point during preparation did I feel completely lost or paralyzed. I cannot prove it, but I am sure changing smaller things all the time helped reduce friction with a rather life-changing move.

I'm not the only one who thinks this way. There's plenty of articles advocating for micro-habits as a continuous life-changer (1) (2). It's about starting small. Really, it's about starting small enough so that you start at all.

Not every change in your life needs to be a habit. But the parallels are so apparent to me, that I share my experience on how to develop a challenging habit in one of my next posts. Let me know if you're interested!

Bottom line

I think change is inevitable. Everyone struggles with it from time to time. It’s okay to find it scary and discomforting. Everyone needs some constants, some steadiness in their lives as well. Otherwise, we become disoriented — lost.

I suggest doing regular small changes: things unimportant enough so you don’t lose ground but important enough to put you in a new situation, a new challenge to deal with. Getting used to the feeling reduces fear and keeps your mind flexible. And it’s fun! We are not robots afterall.

How is your change adventure? Has it been easy for you to adapt? I'm curious: feel free to comment or reach out!

Notes

This post reflects personal experience and is not meant to have scientific character.

Thank you, Boris and Jere!

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