Embracing Change

Embracing Change Easy words to say. The type of words seen on decorative Facebook posts with oceans in the background, like you never thought about dealing with change before. I recently had a hard day. Not of challenge or obstacles, but of the silent yet keen edge of change. After attending a luncheon featuring an author Id just learned of, an annual event Id attended for years, I left deflated and demoralized, and I couldnt put my finger on the reason why. Actually spent the better part of the day pondering what in the world had knocked my internal gyroscope off its center. My very core felt bruised. Nobody did anything horrendously wrong or broke any social mores to get up at arms about. That literary event had become a staple in my world, but it had developed new leadership, and some of the old guard was gone. The speaker wasnt like the others, a bit formulaic without much inspiration, and the event adjourned with little fanfare, less charm. . . the sense of special gone. It was more about me accepting the fact that nothing remains the same. Im usually good at embracing change, often excited about the opportunity it presents, but this altered an environment around me that Id come to rely upon as. . . unchangeable. It was like losing a close friend, with nobody else around to fill that void the way they did. . . knowing the change was permanent. Like when we have to learn how to publish differently or lose an editor thats always molded us well. Like when a magazine folds for which weve written dozens of pieces. Like when we change to self-publishing because traditional isnt paying as it used to, only to learn that indie is a whole different animal that might not pay any different. Or when publishers (of any kind) change rules and methods weve come to consider second nature. So, I did something I havent done in years. I opened a book of poems. Mary Oliver, to be precise. She was so good at simplifying life and noting whats important. I turned to poetry to calm my mind and to make sense of the change. Change happens, and Im supposed to be a part of it, so I can help it be better, too.