Blog Archives
One Degree of Change
modified original image credit: Wikipedia
Although its a New Year, and we start with the best resolutions that will make our lives so much better! But even the best of intention resolutions go by the way side, and often become lost in the miasma of life. Why?
Well, because more often than not, we feel in order to make a change in our lives, we feel we have to change the course of our ship 180 degrees….turn it around completely for that new goal, that new life, in order to achieve our new life.
There is one rule of life that I remember learning when I first became a teacher. It had more to do with helping students, or improving my classroom in some way, or my teaching strategies….something like that. BUT, this rule actually applies to more than that. It applies to the universe…the very core of our existence. READY FOR IT? Here is goes:
CHANGE IS CONSTANT
The only thing constant in our lives, IS change. We can not stop change, it happens on a universe level, in happens on a cellular level, or even smaller, atomic level. As long as time moves on, CHANGE happens. Even if we stand still, we breath, changing or exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide. The very root of BREATHING is change. Okay, I think you got the idea!
So what does that do with my New Year resolution? Everything!
If you want something to change this New Year, or don’t worry, it will. You’ll get older, your children, your pets. Your job will change, new clients, new people to interact with, new rules, new clients. What if you don’t have a job, a stay at home parent….oh, things will change there too! House gets dirtier, clothes get dirtier, yard grass and plants grow. Family changes too, as parents get older, babies are born, relatives move away or closer. There really isn’t a way to get away with change. It is how we adapt to the change that makes the difference.
Adapting to change: You get older….looking in the mirror, wow you’ve changed! Do I put on makeup to hide the change, the wrinkles, the puffy eyes, the sagging jawline? Children…oh, children change so much more quickly. Time to buy new clothes, new shoes, haircuts, braces! The job, what you do for a living, to earn a wage, to support your family….maybe it is time to make a change there too? Not meaning quit, but refocus, re-frame, set different priorities.
So from the title of this article, I think by now you might be saying….okay, what is one degree of change then? Well, let’s go back to the course of the ship. First it takes a long time to change the course of a large ship, so much slower than changing the course of a car! Picture a ship leaving from New York, heading to Europe. The captain sets course, due East. At first, the ship pulls out of the harbor and gets lined up on the destination. Ships have specific headings as they travel the seas, routes is a better word. As they move along their route, seas may be calm, but a storm in the distance may be challenging. The captain changes course to avoid the brunt of the storm. Because they are looking ahead, changes don’t have to be drastic, the change just a little, because by time they get into the area where the ship will be affected by the storm, the ship has moved away from the area by many, many miles.
You and I are a lot like that captain, but we are captains of our own ships. When we see storms ahead, or events that we don’t think are good for us, we begin to change course. A super simple example in your own home. The dirt dishes are piling up. We see, if we don’t wash them, several things may happen: 1. We run out of clean dishes to eat on, cook on or bake with. 2. Food scrapes begin to attract flies and other insects that aren’t good for our health. 3. Large mammals, ie rats, begin finding their way into our homes, and spread diseases. 4….well, you get the idea. SO, to change course, for #1-4 not to happen, we wash the dishes. If we wash dishes immediately after we dine, the change isn’t dramatic….less than 10 min, all is clean. If we wait until the next meal or the next day, change must be larger, 30 minutes or more, to stop #1-4.
Let’s move to a larger scale of change and possibly more difficult or complex. One very popular course is to STOP ______________ (fill in the blank). In our example, I will choose smoking. Smoking is an activity that may people do and many people want to change. If one smokes, then there are consequences (or results). (Just letting you know, I don’t smoke. I once did when I was younger, and mom found out, and she made me change with one slap…that was my change!). But another family member does, and that is their choice, not mine to change them, but they have a lot to think about. 1. They don’t like the way their breath feels/smells. The breath mints or gum proves that. 2. Their clothes have an unpleasant odor that often they themselves can’t detect, but people around them certain can. 3. Laws or becoming more and more restrictive on where you can smoke in our society. 4. Housing landlords, hotels, prohibit smoking in the buildings which reduces that housing opportunities, or many cold nights standing on the porch for the “last smoke” before heading inside. 5. I won’t even get into the health aspects of smoking, as I would like you to be able to read this post in under 15 days, but ultimately, the smokers health effects all the family members around them, either indirectly, or after the smokers untimely illness and death, directly, as they deal with not having that loved on in their lives anymore. And I won’t even get into the financial impact this activity. To say the least, it is one that I have heard many want to stop. An entire billion dollar industry is based on the notion, that their “product/alternate activity” will help them STOP. But who really has the ability to make the change? Ultimately, only you. Many try a 180 degree change. They stop, as we call it, cold turkey. I have know someone who has succeeded by changing this way, and he was more determined to continue not smoking, every time he looked at his daughter. But many aren’t able to make 180 degree change and stay the course.
A personal example that I made a one degree of change in my life, that has completely changed me physically and mentally, is my weight loss. Two years after having my last child, I noticed my weight had not gone back to where I started before I became pregnant. For two years I said it was “baby weight”, and I had to eat well (alot) to continue nursing. Well, that was a year after I stopped nursing….do you get the idea? I was using my children as a reason for not making a change. I decided to make a change, a small change, a one degree of change. And this is what the change was: When my children wouldn’t finish their food that I had prepared for them to eat, I would finish it, as I didn’t want it to go to waste. Well, in a way, it went to waist…get it? Sorry, couldn’t resist! I decided my change was going to be, stop eating the children’s left overs. That one degree of change, made me aware of what other things I was putting into my mouth. And it was much more than I had originally thought. In less than 6 months, after that one degree of change….that one decision….I lost 40 pounds. I then became more excited about the change, and made several more “one degree” changes in my life. For example, I began taking my dog for a LONG walk, once a week. The chain reaction of one degree of change, increased to nearly 45 degrees, then 90 degrees! That was nearly 10 years ago. I have kept the weight off, because I haven’t made the one degree of change BACK to the original path I was on, of eating my children’s leftover food.
Again, lets go back to the ship.
Ships can’t make a 180 degree turn. Titanic tried….
best example yet, huh? SO what is a captain, you, to do? Make a small degree of change. Make a one degree of change. If you change your course, that you are one, by just a very small amount, by time you reach your destination, you will have put yourself in a very different place then when you started. You won’t even end up close to where you were originally headed, in fact, over the course of many days, years, or life time, your destination will be the new goal you were seeking, and you will have arrived there.
What does a one degree change look like? It starts with a decision of looking down the road, on the radar, on the map of life (sorry, I know that sounds corny), but it is true. Where are you headed? What do you want to achieve? Where do you want to be at the end of this New Year? Don’t make several goals for yourself….just one…..you can take on the others when you are on the right course of this one. Where can you find your inspiration? Who else has achieved what you would like to achieve? How did they do it? Connect with others, learn from others, then take on your own goal, by making a one degree of change, one decision, one small habit, that will grow into a completely new life.
Affective Learning 