Change – we all know her, although most of us don’t love her. Throughout our lives, we experience different types and magnitudes of change. At some point, you went from smearing food all over your face to the regal use of a knife and fork, due to the timely arrival of hand-eye coordination (or so we hope). Maybe you simply made the switch from cream cheese to jam on your bagel this morning. The bottom line is that change is everywhere. Rather ironically, the one thing in life that will never change is the recurring experience of change itself.
This makes me wonder: if change is supposedly so familiar to us, why is it so difficult? Within the last few years, I’ve had quite a few opportunities to confront this thought. I moved from a small island to the bustling city of Montréal, experienced my first winter and attended classes in rooms that could quite literally swallow my high school whole. Throughout this time, I’ve come to think that change is like a matchmaker, introducing us to versions of ourselves that we never could have met in our previous positions. Meeting new people can be scary, but it can also become the moment you meet one of the best people you’ve ever known; you may be one change away from that person being you. I think that change is meant to shape us, not alter us; that we should always remain true to who we are while growing into who we want to be.
So, how did my big move cause my relationship with change to take on a whole new, positive light? You would think that moving from an island paradise with summery weather year-round to a busy city with weather that is, well, an acquired taste, would have the opposite effect. I’ve gone from flip flops gliding over soft sand to spiked boots scraping sidewalks; from eating ice pops in the summer heat to being hit by them falling from the sky. It’s been a learning curve – a very steep one at that. But it’s taught me to embrace new beginnings and to appreciate all the steps on the path to chasing my dreams. Maybe I don’t love the frigid outdoors, but I walk through them every day on my way to the renowned McGill University and for that I am grateful. Because growing pains might be new, unwanted and uncomfortable, but they’re still a part of growing. They stretch and shape us into new versions of ourselves the same way change does. I’ve learned that it’s important to appreciate the process because it allows you to have a deeper appreciation for the end goal.
Of course, the weather is only one of the many changes I’ve had to navigate since arriving in Montreal. Back home, we have a population of around 100,000 people so you can’t help but embrace the wonders of a tight-knit community where basically everybody knows everybody; where if you need to know something, a friend of a friend surely has the answer. Many of you reading this are probably familiar with Montréal so you can imagine what a vast contrast this vibrant city feels like. A city where everyone’s on the go, where the dreams are bigger than the buildings and where, quite frankly, you feel like a number – just 1 out of 1.76 million. Ironically, the liveliness of the city can’t help but feel impersonal. Everyone’s on their own mission, moving across zebra crossings at warp speed, which is understandable in these temperatures. Every day, walking down the streets are people with new faces, different backgrounds, different senses of purpose – all stories waiting to be told. Sometimes, I think walking around the city is like entering a huge library and looking around at thousands of books unread to you – the only impression you have of them is a glance at the cover. Then there’s home, a much smaller, cozy library where it’s rare that you go out and don’t run into at least two Aunties and a few friends from school. My surroundings changed entirely and now it was up to me to navigate them.
I could have easily stayed in my comfort zone, avoided introductions and just been in and out for classes – it could’ve been that simple. But in doing that, one of the most important introductions I would’ve passed up on was that to the version of me writing for you today – the version of me who is now able to stand in front of a class presenting not only myself, but my ideas. I knew my surroundings had changed – that much was obvious – but it took a bit more time to realize and appreciate that my opportunities had changed too. So yes, I was in rooms filled with hundreds of new people, nervous about the unfamiliarity, but I was in rooms filled with hundreds of hardworking, driven people, also eager to make their dreams come true, also experiencing a variety of different changes. I had to shift my perspective and often, navigating change is about perspective.
The fascinating and oddly comforting thing about change is that it’s like a domino effect. Fascinating because changes in your surroundings and circumstances often end up shaping you as a person. Comforting because if you didn’t like the last iteration, surely there’s a new one coming soon – you just have to keep going. I found change a bit easier to swallow when I realized that it’s an opportunity to grow into the person I one day hope to be. How exciting it is to think that as the seasons of life go by, you’ll probably meet a version of yourself that will make who you are today prouder each time.
~After all, we wouldn’t be walking unless we made the change from crawling. And while it may be more comfortable closer to the ground, there’s a whole lot more to see up here. ~
