The more things change, the more they change

I heard on the radio today the sad news of two Spanish mountaineers who died while scaling Mont Blanc, the Alps’ highest mountain. It’s not the first fatal accident this summer, either. Snow and ice are melting faster every year, exposing loose rock and crevasses. Seracs, pointed ice columns along glacial ridges that can be as big as a house are cracking and falling. The mountain hasn’t moved; the climbers’ skills are up to par; but the conditions change.

The more familiar adage is the more things change, the more they stay the same. We all get that, and we’ve heard it many times. We understand it to mean human behavior consistently follows certain patterns. For example, whether it’s social media apps, pages, a Princess telephone with a 10-foot-long cord, or tissue-y blue tinted air mail paper, young lovers are going to find a way to declare their affection for each other. But everything doesn’t follow that pattern, and we can be lulled by adages into ignoring change at our own expense.

Holding fast to old ways when things are changing can be a dangerous practice. The most beautiful, well-kept home won’t stand on a crumbling foundation. The longer you ignore the changes around you, or deny them, you risk loss or injury of some kind – emotional or actual physical harm – to yourself and your well-being. So, attend to your foundation – to your foundational beliefs, to your long-standing habits, to your body and physical health, to your “we’ve always done it this way”s. There are times in your life when things have changed around you so much that you have to change too; not always necessarily a lot, but enough to keep yourself and the ones you love safe and sane.

Regular maintenance is advised.

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8/26/24