Change Is As Good As a Holiday

Without exception, all of us love going on vacation.  There are some, that dread the experience of protruded family vacations, but generally, we look forward to the prospect of relaxing, experiencing new adventures, resetting, and recharging our batteries.

In my life, I have known people that live from vacation to vacation.  In the middle, they hate their lives, are in dreary dead-end jobs, with too much stress or boredom.  There have been times when I have felt this way, and have counted down the days until I can break free and experience a change.

I have been wondering if it is possible to experience the excitement and expectancy in our everyday lives that we feel when a vacation is looming.

I think this is possible through allowing change to inhabit greater significance in our lives.

What do I mean by this?

Imagine you meet a friend or associate after a long absence and ask, “What’s new?” and receive, “Nothing much,” in reply.  You might ask yourself how it is possible for “nothing much” to have happened in a week, a month, or a year and yet for some people, they feel that nothing has changed, nothing much has happened.

Change is as good as a holiday and the good news is we are changing each day.  The very fact that we are alive and human means that we ourselves are change.  From the moment of conception until the moment we pass on, our state of being is in a constant flex and flux of change.

Isn’t it amazing that we clump our lives together and see the day-to-day as mundane, routine, and unchanging and yet each day is new, each day is different?

As we grow older, we lose the wonderment and excitement of embracing change that we did as little children.  Each day children delight in the world around them until they reach a certain age where their programming is complete, the language learnt and they put aside “childish things.”

Perhaps this is the point where we start to fear change.  Where we start to perceive it as good or bad, something to embrace or avoided at all costs.  Where we make it something external from ourselves, an outside force imposed upon us beyond our control.

What would happen if we embraced ourselves in the fullness of our ever-changing selves?  If we saw ourselves as part of a magnificent universe that is constantly changing?

Perhaps these thoughts are too lofty and philosophical, but what if just for today you perceived something differently, inside of your routine.  What if you looked at the sunset with new eyes, or enjoyed your ride home in a new way.  What if you took the time to really taste the dinner, or breakfast you will eat.

Look at yourself, how did you act differently today than yesterday?  What about those closest to you, are they unchanging?  Look a little closer.

I was in Spain last week and had many wonderful experiences as a volunteer along the Camino.  I came home refreshed and excited and with a very strong sense of purpose for my life and business.

While I was there, I received a very powerful, life-affirming message from a pilgrim that was simply passing by.  He had no idea how his message would affect me, but it was exactly what I needed to hear.  In fact, it was the exact message I received last year, so it was a perfect confirmation for me to continue the work I have begun.

I wondered why I needed to travel to Spain to receive this message and I realised that I stopped engaging with change right here at home.  I was not living daily with a sense of expectancy and wonder.  I had stopped seeing beauty in the obvious; I had set aside my curiosity.

This is why having a vacation or change in perspective can be so wonderful for the soul, but what I realise is that if each of us have a daily ritual where we activate our childlike wonder for life, we could live invigorated, fulfilled lives moment by moment.

Of course, I am not saying do not take a vacation, but look for the changes around you, they are happening regardless of your response them.

Embrace your changing self today; see your world in a new way, meet the adventure of you, it is right where you are.

Enjoy!