So, I’ve wondered, how much of us changes during the course of our lives? As we grow from being a baby to becoming toddlers, and then children, teenagers, and now adults… how much of us remains the same? Are we still the same baby who used to cry constantly every night? Are we still the same playful children who put everything their hands touched into their mouths? Are we still the same teenagers who played so roughly that we always took injuries home as a trophy?
After going through all these, what kind of adults does that make us? These things are not separate events or activities, they are all interconnected, one leading to the other, so that we can become who we are. And in ten years or twenty years from now, we’d have undergone yet another gradual change that will most likely make us totally different as well.
I ask, if your teenage self were to look at you today, would they recognize you? That’s without knowing your name or your looks. If they were to go simply by your actions, characters, and your thought processes, would they recognize you? Can you say that you’re still the same person that you were back when you were a teenager?
The thing is, there are people who don’t really change much at all. As adults, they’re still the exact same people they were as teens. They’re liars, cheats, they do things without thinking of the consequences. They’ve accepted it as who they are, and they’re not really bothered about trying to change or get better, because as far as they’re concerned, none of all that is their business. But then, there are those who, because of the crazy teenage years they had, saw the wisdom in reinventing themselves.
People who used to be very playful in school turned into disciplined and controlled adults, those who used to have a loud mouth had to learn the value of keeping quiet and being a listener. Some who were extroverts and party-goers became introverts. And those who were still extroverted became more intentional about their outings. It's so not unusual to see people become total opposites of who they were in the past.
But then, what does all this mean? Does it mean that the person has totally changed? It’s kind of like the Ship of Theseus Theory, if so much has been changed, are you the same person you were before the changes started? And for this, I have to say no. You can’t be the same person, especially when you’re working towards getting better. Many times, for real change to happen, you have to be willing to let everything go in totality, you have to be willing to cut all ties and become a new person. It’s almost akin to dying so your new self can blossom.
So yeah, that’s what it means. You’re a new person. Every day you make a decision to be better or be different, whether for good or for bad, you’re either taking a step towards change or remaining stuck in the same loop. For a real chance at growth, change is inevitable. But then, we have to be really intentional about our growth, so we don’t end up becoming the adults our teenage selves would have run away from.
