The importance of adaptability in accepting change

Adaptability: I was catching up with a dear friend of mine a few days ago. Both of us have had particularly challenging years personally (even all local and global 2020 events aside). As we exchanged stories about the roller coaster that has been 2020, my friend said something that really struck me. He said, Savannah, “I think the best thing we can do for ourselves in this life is to teach ourselves how to be adaptable.”

I think he is spot on here. Instead of looking for comfort in creating a sense of security that may last five years, a year, or a minute, let’s teach ourselves how to adapt. When we get comfortable with adapting, we get really good at not being blindsided by change (which we all know is an unavoidable fact of life) and handle it with less pain.

I think about this a lot through the lens of the human body. One of the things our bodies are naturally best at, is adapting. Creating a new homeostasis. We are good at it, because it quite literally keeps us alive.
To me, this is an encouraging fact. Our bodies do this so naturally in a physical sense, that we can use this as a reminder that our minds can do it too.

Take a moment and think about what your life was like 3 and a half months ago, and then realize where you are now. You may not have wanted to, but you adapted.

In a really short period of time.

You’ve changed, you’ve grown, and you’ve grieved the security that you thought you had. Many of you have changed almost everything about your lives whether you wanted to or not.

Congratulations, because that’s not easy.

Keep working that adaptability muscle, because you are going to need it. You are going to need it for the rest of your life, and the stronger it gets, the more resilient your spirit becomes. We need resilient spirits in this world, we need as many of them as we can get. Keep up the good work, you’ve got this.