Change

How does that saying go, "The one thing you can count on in life is change."? Just as things are always changing around us every day, change is also continually happening within us, whether we realize it or not. I don't care for sayings like, "People don't change." or "Once a cheater, always a cheater." or "You can't teach an old dog new tricks.". As long as we're breathing, we're changing. There's always the potential to adopt new habits, new beliefs, new knowledge, new anything.

I have a very close friend that I've hung out with for going on thirty eight years now. Not that long ago she was at my house, along with a few other people, helping to celebrate my husband's birthday. When it came time for cake we sang, he blew out the candles and I pulled some dessert plates out of the kitchen cabinet. My friend looked at me and said, "Why don't you just use paper plates?" to which I answered, "I don't have any. I don't buy them too often because they're not good for the environment." You would have thought I had three heads the way she looked at me and she said, "What in the hell has happened to you?"

I know it's not just the paper plates she's referring to, I've undergone alot of changes over the past few years. You just go along living your life, making choices, dealing with the ebb and flow and BAM, it hits you one morning over breakfast how much you've changed.

I had a moment like that this morning as I was eating an omelet which consisted of one egg, two egg whites, red pepper, spinach and romano cheese while using fresh juice from my juicer made from apples, carrots, celery, beets, spinach and ginger to swallow the supplements obtained from my naturopath (who I LOVE). Upon finishing breakfast I took some Oscillococcinum pellets bought from a health food store and at the same time mixed two droppers full of liquid echinacea and Goldenseal in a little water and drank it down to help me with this cold I've been fighting (side note - it works!).

My friend and I used to have so much fun going out together dancing and drinking until the wee hours of the morning. I think I've had maybe two glasses of wine in the past six months and am usually in bed by 9:00 p.m.. We used to love to go out to eat together and we especially loved sharing good hangover food such as potato chips and onion dip (none of this already made stuff, it has to be dry onion soup mix and sour cream). Or she makes the best nachos smothered with taco meat, cheese, black olives and jalapenos (of course with sour cream and salsa on the side), or a nice baked potato loaded with chili, cheese and sour cream - I'm sure you've deduced from the previous paragraph that these foods are no longer a staple in my diet. The hangover food would always be accompanied by massive amounts of ibuprofin which I don't touch any more unless I absolutely need to. Oh the hours we'd spend talking and laughing at someone else's expense. Thank God life has taught me to STOP this behavior!

Despite my position on paper plates, I'm far from what I would consider "green". A good example of this is when my sister and I were in the store shopping for my Mom's post funeral gathering at my house, I went to grab some plastic lined styrofoam "throw away" coffee cups off the shelf and my sister said something like, "Carrie! The earth could explode and those cups would still be here." I'm trying to be more conscious of my choices when it comes to being green as I'd like my youngest to have a better example in that department. This will be his earth long after I'm gone.

No wonder my friend doesn't recognize me! I barely recognize myself. Thankfully she still loves me. No, I'm not the same Carrie I've been in the past, and I'm willing to bet you're not the same you either.

Some change can be downright awful, like the change that's accompanied by trauma or loss. Some change can fill you with elation. Some change is really difficult and some is so easy it's barely noticeable. Some comes quick and some comes painfully slow. Some change comes from a conscious effort and some happens subconsciously.

Call it change, call it growth, call it maturing, call it evolving, call it what you'd like but good or bad, welcomed or not, as long as we're breathing, we all know it's on the horizon. The one thing you can count on in life is change. But that's okay because as another saying goes, "We're all in this together".

xo,
Carrie