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Writer's pictureJanine Passaretti-Molloy

Winds of Change

Updated: Aug 6, 2019

When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills.

~Chinese Proverb


Are you the type of person that embraces change or are you one that feels more comfortable in the familiar routine?


Many people love when things are constantly changing where others find more comfort and security in keeping things sure and steady.


I suppose there are positives and negatives to both of these viewpoints depending on how you look at them.


In life we are given opportunities and choices each and every day. To a degree, we decide for ourselves what we will do with each day. Choices we make of course do vary from simple to major depending on the situations that are presented to us.


How do you react when life presents a major change that you weren't expecting?


Do you build a wall around yourself trying desperately to keep as much as you can unchanged or do you build a windmill as a way to harness some power to propel you forward; to create something new within the unknown or unfamiliar?


Currently I am at a time of my life where everything has changed for me in a major way over the last few years. Every single aspect of my life that I had been used to and comfortable with had been drastically altered. My family dynamic, my career, where I lived, relationships with friends and family, you name it, it changed. I can say that I initially tried to build a wall around myself and try to take shelter from some of the changes that I was facing, but it didn’t really work for long.

I learned quickly that the world doesn't stop for anything. It doesn’t stand still to wait for us to be ready to move forward. You can stand there with your arms tightly folded and your feet firmly planted, refusing to move or you can look at the possibilities.


Our perception of what is happening around us will ultimately shape our reality. I strongly believe this now more than ever and I believe it starts with the most simple things.


One day, not too long ago, I was in a state of very deep thinking. I began to view aspects in my life in a very different way. I thought about some of the simple things I did or chose not to do and I started to question why I either did them or didn't do them.


These were simple things like the foods I ate or didn’t eat, the places I went to or didn’t go to, the activities I was or wasn’t involved in, the music I either listened to or did not.

Then I asked myself, why?

Why did I do these things or choose not to do them?


While on vacation recently at a beautiful beach, I was staring at the ocean and this thought crossed my mind:


Throughout my whole life I loved going to the beach. I always felt lucky for the fact that I have lived in a state called The Ocean State my entire life. When I was younger you couldn't get me out of the water. I loved to ride the waves and play in the crashing surf. As I got older I started to not go into the water as much. My routine was the same each time. I would get hot from the sun beating down on me so I would go to the very edge of the water and splash some over me, walk back to my beach chair and then repeat the routine over and over again until I left.


I would watch my children playing in the water and many times they would be begging me to go in but I would always say the same thing, It's too cold!



It could have been 100 degrees outside but I just assumed not go in the water because that is what I had been accustomed to not doing. Why had I become accustomed to not doing something I always loved to do?


Suddenly, something came over me and I started to think about what it would be like if I just went into the water that day. Emotions swirling inside me telling me that it was time to start taking these simple opportunities to enjoy life, to live a life that makes you happy.


That was the day I decided to do what I had always loved and I ran and dove into the water.

It was so exhilarating!


It felt like being set free from something that had been holding me back.

From that day forward, I would not just stand by the shoreline gazing at the blue ocean waves. I let myself feel the waves flow and crash around me every time the opportunity presented itself. It feels incredible not only physically but mentally.


I know that some of you may be saying to yourself,

Okay big deal you swam in the water at the beach. Wow!

However, hear me out. To me it was a big deal because it was a step I was taking at looking at life's choices that I could make each day, those I DID have control over.


I realized that the sudden changes that come to our lives that we don‘t have control over could either hinder us from moving forward or we could take the power that we have within us to make different choices each day that will eventually take us forward one small step or giant leap at a time. The pace is up to us.


I have come to know that we don't have to make huge decisions each day to move our lives towards something good and positive. I have realized that it is the small choices that we make each day that will get us there. One small step at a time is sometimes all it takes. Pretty soon when we look back, which is hopefully less and less, we will no longer see the things that were holding us down.

We will only see the possibilities in front of us.


So my advice is to take that plunge into the ocean or whatever simple or major things that you feel are holding you back from the person that you want to be, that you are meant to be.


In a sense, we are the windmill, with the power to change our own lives one day and one choice at a time.




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