News November 2014

It’s all about change

The natural progression from egg to caterpillar, pupa and then butterfly is the true nature of metamorphosis. However, in life things don’t appear to be that straight forward. Changing from one state to another requires effort, focus and fortitude to surmount the speed bumps that inevitably come with change.

Change is part of life. Life is dynamic, not static. Some of us would like it to stay ‘the way it has always been’, but life is not like that. Rather than avoiding or resisting change it is much more beneficial to embrace change. This way we can enjoy the challenge, find excitement in new beginnings – and shrug off the old attitudes and the stagnation that comes with complacency and stasis. The road often is rocky and full of pit holes – there are valleys as well as mountains. Knowing this helps us to face the fear of change rather than moving away from it in the hope that things might change around us.

As we come to the end of the year, some dreams will have come to fruition, and many will have gone unmet. Sometimes due to circumstances, but more often due to poor planning, or no planning at all – with just a wild hope that something will happen all by itself. The old saying ‘if you fail to plan, you plan to fail’ comes to mind as we grapple with the frustration of perceived failure.

Determination to change brings with it another thought. If we continue to do the same thing expecting a different result then we are being foolish. For things to change – we have to change.

Now is the time to set down new ideas, plan for the future, and goals to be achieved in the coming year. Most of us wait until January 1st, to make our New Years resolutions. Yet starting now gives us a full month to compose, modify and adjust our plans, so that by the start of the new year we already know where we are going, what we are doing, with a definite idea of our goals in mind.

How exciting for once to be prepared for the future. Every pilot knows that there will be adjustments to the route along the way as the winds change, the weather takes hold, the clouds lower or darkness threatens. They have a map, instruments, radar and air traffic control to help them on their journey. They don’t start without a map, an alternate place to land and check points along the way. They planned before they left – and this is, what we can do. With one month of serious planning we will be ready to go on the 1st of January 2015.

‘Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.’ (John F. Kennedy, 1917 – 1963)