Don't Change - Really?

Just the other day, I saw an old Jeep sitting on the side of the road - it had certainly seen better days.  What struck me about the Jeep though wasn't it's condition (in Colorado, there are plenty of beat-up vehicles sitting around) but what was written on the side windows.  Without any context or other telling clues, it said quite simply "Don't Change".

That short message against the backdrop of the old Jeep it was painted on, reminded me of far too many people I know and organizations I've worked with that are often unaware of their aging condition.  Too many people go through life chasing after stability and organizations whose leadership, employees, and culture have accepted the motto Don't Change, seem to be stuck in park on the side of the road.  Yet the only constant in life is change.  Every moment of life is a creatively unique example of change.  Every moment is as unique as a snowflake - no two moments in time are the same no matter how much we may want them to be and you can never replicate the exact same moment.  Just like each of us are completely unique, so is time.  Change makes that possible and perpetual.

I'm reminded of a Jim Carrey movie "Yes Man" where his character comes face-to-face with this thing called change.  This is one of Carrey's favorite movies for me (although I love them all) because in the script, Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) confronts the inevitability of change in a very comical yet serious way.  It always reminds me of the many people I've encountered who are attempting to ensure that life doesn't change.  Saying "yes" to life means to embrace the creative force of change in way that opens oneself to the wonder and excitement that is meant to be life itself.  I feel great empathy for people I know and meet that try each day to make life stand still; to ensure that each day has the quality of 'sameness' that offers security, stability, and familiarity.  But what these people seek is simply an illusion, a mirage in their own minds because the world around them isn't the same as it was a moment ago no matter how much they may want or believe it to be.  How futile to live this way.  It's like trying to keep the sun from rising or make time stand still.

One only has to look for a moment and realize that the instant just past is not the same as the one we are living in.  While the macrocosm of our own life may seem the same, we have aged a bit more in that moment and so much has already changed in the world around us.  No matter how hard you may try, you cannot stop the creative forces of the universe that constantly move forward.  Change is the energy that creation relied upon and is the one thing we can count on to be present NOW.  Why is it then that people and organizations resist change when it's a principle of life?  For the organizations I've worked with, the issue of change seems to be the one they struggle with the most.  Yet if you don't embrace change, it will embrace you often in very uncomfortable and unexpected ways.  To change is to be human and to take an active role in the process of creation.  We learn, grow, and contribute when we chose to participate in change.  It's when we dig our heels in and resist change, that eventually, change has its way with us.  When we live by the credo Don't Change we ultimately end up looking like that beat-up old Jeep left on the side of the road to rust.