Everybody wants change. Nobody wants to change.

Look inward and decide what you would like to see a change in. Feel, it, live it, breathe it and translate that change into the world around you. That is how we can deal with the chaos around us.

Do you want a better world? Do you want a more connected world? One filled with possibility, equality and wellbeing for everyone? Then something has to change! That something starts with you.

There’s a saying from Jessie Potter that goes “If you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you’ve always gotten.” You’ve probably also heard the informal definition of insanity: “doing the same thing over and over expecting to get a different result”. Matthew says he will be the first to admit that he’s had more than his fair share of calluses on the forehead from banging away against that wall.

Change is all around us. Some of it more noticeable than others. If you stop you will see that, like the cliché, it is the only constant. Yet we seem to fear it rather than embrace it. Without change nothing would get done. Everything would stay the same. Can you imagine the same weather, music, TV shows, meals, clothes and so on, everyday, for the rest of your life?

Your body is a master of change. There are more than 200 types of specialised cells in the body. These are replaced at varying rates from minutes (millions of new red blood cells are formed every minute) to months (hair grows about one cm per month). Why then do we generally resist change when it impacts and affects our lives?

Maybe it’s the way we perceive change. Change can be messy and ugly. Think relationship changes. It can be scary and frightening. Think COVID-19 and the changes of social distancing, self quarantine and the merging of previously separate worlds, work and home. There are many aphorisms about change too, we shared one above (it’s the only constant). Our favorite one, however, says “the only evidence of life is growth”.

At 5th Place we place a high value on growth. Coupled with healing, it forms a powerful agent for change.

Shape of Emotion turns 2 in 2020

During this period of monumental change our invitation is to let go a little and accept the space and place you are in rather than resisting it. You may want to start with your feelings around being offered these changes. They might not be something you wanted to begin with.

See if you can find new ways to engage with the experiences life is giving you now. These may be a renewed opportunity to connect with your children or partner. If you are working from home it might make you look differently at those organisations and people that were sometimes taken for granted, while you disappeared into those shiny glass and metal structures each day. There’s a chance to build new routines and have yourself and others learn new skills that might not previously have been considered. Opportunities to connect with our universal humanity abound, supporting those who are less able.

Whatever it is, go with the change. Volcanoes can be one of the most destructive forces on the planet. Yet they enable life by creating new land mass. In our experience, accepting and allowing change is key to staying healthy, open minded and vibrant. Especially during times of stress and anxiety.

Take a moment to stop. Breathe in and then slowly out.

We are living in, or maybe it’s through, one of the most change-filled periods in the history of the world since the Second World War. This isn’t a fact, it’s our opinion. We reflected on when last had we observed an event gripping the world to the extent we are witnessing now. WW2 was where we ended up. Who knows where we may end up if events continue. It’s an exciting time to be alive, or is it?

Whatever you are feeling about this time of change remember in order for something to change, something has to change. May it be you.