Don't Fear the Change

I would like to expound more on the topic tigga76 posted yesterday. Change. Change denotes the transition that occurs between one state to another. Charge is a force. Change can also be a choice. We all must go through many so call changes in life in order to grow.
My brother and his wife of sixteen years just recently broke up. My brother was wondering what he could do to repair their relationship. As a outsider looking in I told my brother that his wife has made a decision to go on with her life without him. I told him not to fear the change. Because fearing the change was not going to change the situation. Here, in this case, change was a force for my brother but a choice for my soon to be ex sister-in-law.
As for myself. Almost five years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was faced with some pretty heavy choices concerning my treatment or non-treatment. Again change was a force in this decision. But I also was allowed to make some choices for the changes that were to come.
Today I am a five year survivor. However I am soon to face that impostor "fear" again. The medication that I have been taking so faithfully everyday for the pass five years will soon come to a end. I don't know what the next step in my treatment will be. I'm going to feel strange not taking those little white pills any more. They gave me a certain amount of comfort. Knowing that the medication is in my system fighting off any new and killing off any old cancer cells. So I fear the change. But I will not and can not let fear make choices for me.
Or when my hair first started turning grey. That was a change I have no control over. Others would ask me why don't I dye my hair? My reply "Why should I". The dye will eventually wash or grow out and the grey hair will once again assert itself. So I just accepted the change.
Our parents and grandparents lived in a different world. Same planet (almost), different world. Change has brought about a different world than they grew up in. Many older people fear the changes that has come with the technological advances in this day. Many grew up in a age when they thought the idea of a television (and we're talking black & white TV) was impossible in their minds. Now look at where change has taken the television.
The world is a very different place than I grew up in. And it has even changed more doing the life time of my sons who are in the twenties now. Who knows what the world will be like when my grand children are adults.
Change is important. We all need change. It is not possible to grow without change. I mean what would the world be without change. Would we have evolved into the humans we are today? Can you imagine not having computers or the Internet, HD television or cellphones? All because of change do we now have these devices.
Change has two faces. It can be good as well as bad. It can be a force or a choice. It is what you do with that change when it comes to you that matters. Change is inevitable. So don't fear the change.

Thirty Minute Lesson.

Yesterday I taught my son to drive stick shift. His uncle surprised him at 1:30 in the morning. He drove in from Illinois. He brought him his car. You see my sister and her husband are preparing to move over seas for a few years. They're air force. I didn't get a chance to speak with my brother-in-law so I don't know what prompted him to bring that car to my son. But I am thankful.
My son needed a car. Not that he needed transportation. He drives an employer provided vehicle already. And his employer doesn't mind that he uses it for his personal use so long as he replaces the fuel he uses. But it a big eighteen passenger van. So to be able to zoom around town in a car. A sports car at that. My son is a very responsible person. I know he will take good care of this car. Plus he is mature so I know that there will be no racing or any of that craziness associated with young men and fast powerful cars.
Anyway back to the subject at hand. Yesterday I took my son out to teach him how to drive stick shift. I took him to the park in an empty parking lot. We exchanged places. Before we started the engine I had him pratice shifting and clutching so he could learn where the gears are. That only takes about two minutes. Next he starts the engine. Puts the car into first gear and.... Stalls. He came off the clutch to fast. I explain to him the rules about coming off the clutch in first and reverse. Everyone who drives stick stift knows this rule. I tell him everyone stalls. Especially when driving a stick you haven't driven before. You got to get to know your clutch and shift. Every car is different. He starts the car again. Put the car into first. Stalls. Once again he starts the car. Shifts to first. We're moving. I tell him listen to the engine. To feel the pull of the transmission. That he can watch his rpm's. All indicators of when to shift to the next gear. He shifts. Second, third, fourth. I explain how to brake and downshift. He brings the car to a stop. He starts again with first gear, all the way to fourth. He pratices doing this until he's comfortable with it. He pratices reversing. Next I take him to a hill and let him learn how to shift and pull off on a hill, explaining to him that a stick shift will drift backward when you go to shift on a hill (and it seems that the idiot driving the car behind you always want to pull up to your bumper leaving you no room for a drift). He practices that a few times. That's it.
Before we went out for him to learn this valuable new skill I told him he would be driving stick shift in thirty minutes. I said to him "Driving stick shift is like riding a bicycle. Once you learn it. You never forget."
He drives to my house. Excellent job. He did not stall once. We say bye for now and thank you and I love you. I watch him pull away from the curb. Shift second, down shift back to first, go over the speed bump, shift back to second, then third. Stop, shift, turn, second, until he was out of sight. I smile.