Adapting To Change
It seems on every turn there is some kind of natural disaster. There are fires, tornados, floods, typhoons, volcanoes, snowstorms, hurricanes and dust storms! (We just endured Hurricane/Tropical Storm Isaishs, here on the East Coast.) People from all walks of life must adapt to their surroundings or allow nature to destroy them. Some people make the choice of relocating after a particular storm destroys their home, while others choose to rebuild deciding “Mother Nature” will not win or drive them away from the place they love or grew up.
Jack London in the story “To Build A Fire,” depicts nature as dangerous and impersonal. Nature is neither beneficial nor vindictive and not even selective to whom the next victims of it’s wrath will be. Those who are not strong, lack natural common sense, or survival or adaptability skills, are those who fail. His story also demonstrates the frailty of life, and the paradox of learning lessons too late, when we miscalculate our instinct or intelligence.
While London’s story was about surviving in nature, it’s also true in relationships. We all have flaws in our character since we are human. These flaws lead us, when we are not prepared, to defeat, in a variety of circumstances, when we allow it.
Our marriages, friendships or even work environment, in order to be successful, take an enormous amount of strength and “stick-it-to-it-ive-ness!” When we choose to not use our common sense or adapt to, and work for, success, we risk failure and even a kind of death. It often takes compromise to make everyone happy. Yet sometimes, even at the risk of death of a relationship, adaptability is not an option, if we are asked to compromise our principles.
When reading the news every day, a person can easily see our world is changing. Depending on perspective, some would say we are advancing while others say we’re being destroyed. Regardless of your view, it’s changing. We now wear masks, are required to stay isolated, unable to gather in many churches for worship, and the list goes on and on, while the political arena is ever changing and the media continually curbs information often so badly, it’s impossible to know truth from fiction.
Our lives are also ever changing. Nothing stays the same. We grow, inherit new ideas, and then form new ones. The result is a new way of doing things. This can be easily illustrated through companies who failed to adapt and adopt new ideas in communication and technology.
One such company, and there are many, is Kodak. This company led the way in photography for years in cameras, film and other picture taking accessories. But when digital communications evolved, Kodak did not choose to incorporate the new ideas into their business. This isn’t to say they weren’t aware of the changes, some even would say they “invented” it. But they were so deep into printing and film making, the ‘powers that be’ felt the incentive wasn’t high enough to push “digital” into the forefront of consumers. They ended in bankruptcy in 2012. Other companies, however, saw the potential and ran with it. Companies like Atari, Xerox, IBM and Blockbuster share similar stories.
When considering human nature and the desire to move forward, yet not wanting to lose traditions; change can be difficult. Life changes in minute ways, and in ‘grand’ ways every day. As our bodies and minds grow and change; the world around us also grows, changes and dies and is reborn! It’s a continual cycle. To survive the changes, we must adapt, even if only microscopically! We have to accept our minds are producing wonderful new thoughts that have the potential to create wonderful new things.
Yet in all things, we must be prepared for those “disasters” in our lives which threaten to overwhelm or destroy us. We must be ready to use our common sense, intellect and natural instincts to get the most out of life and be successful.
How do you feel about adapting to change? Does it come easy, or is it a challenge?