Making Peace with Change

Change is a constant force. Whether big or small, life as it’s come to be known shifts time and time again.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately as I moved out of an apartment and a neighborhood I’d grown to love. As the final weeks and days that I’d be there ticked by, I grew increasingly sentimental. The foreseeable nature of this change made me all the more eager to soak in the final moments I had at that apartment.

I smiled at the quirks, the creaks of the staircase, and the lovable aspects of the apartment. Each time I did something, I wondered if it’d be the last time I got to experience it as a resident of that neighborhood. While heartwarming, I was a bit lost in trying to perfect my victory lap.

In doing this, I realized that I could think back to a plethora of lovely moments. Moments in the neighborhood, moments in the apartment, moments created with others because I happened to live in that area. No matter how I went out, it wasn’t going to make or break my time there.

The root of being at peace with change

I had lived my time there with presence and appreciation for the moments and opportunities afforded to me by being there. For that very reason, I had already created the joy and the memories I was trying to squeeze in during the final bits of my lease.

Through this, I learned that change is easier if I can rest assured that I lived with presence and gratitude in the phase before the change. It was still sad to pack up my belongings and drive away, but I was able to do so with an appreciative smile to greet the nostalgic tears.