BY JACK GODBEY

Community columnist

I have never been one who enjoys change. However, no matter how much we don’t want things to change the only thing that will never change is the fact that everything changes. If things stayed the same just because I wanted them too, it would be very likely that I would still be eating school pizza and ignoring my homework in favor of watching an episode of The Dukes of Hazzard. Instead, I am eating low carb pasta and watching episodes of Meet the Press. 

There was a time when a fun night meant I wasn’t going to bed until the sun came up. Now, I wonder, “Who in the world is calling me at this hour? It’s after 9 p.m. for goodness sake.” While Saturdays were once designated for binge drinking, they are now designated for binge watching episodes of Friends. It is funny that once you remove alcohol from the situation the desire to dance completely vanishes.  

I have always been a big reader. I would walk into the bookstore and feel like I was in paradise surrounded with so much knowledge just there for the taking. Now I find that I walk into a bookstore and wonder when they started making the print in the books so small. I have to put on my Mr. Magoo glasses to be able to see it. 

I remember there was a time when I was the guy who people called to fix their technology issues. I have repaired more TVs and computers than I can count. At some point, technology passed me up and I became the guy cursing the computer and saying, “I could have sworn that was my password!” 

I have now become convinced that the folks who make bathroom scales have no idea what they are doing because every time I step on it I get what has to be in inaccurate number. I also have come to believe that the cereal industry must be operated by communists as the price keeps going up and the box keeps getting smaller, and despite this, it’s one of the few items in the store that has an entire aisle dedicated to it. 

There was a time when it was important to me that my friends all liked me. Now, I don’t have the time to worry about if someone likes me or not.

I have always loved classic muscle cars. I used to get excited about looking at them. Now, I get excited because I bought a new mattress. 

So many times, we view change as something negative and something that should be feared. How many times have you heard a superior say, “If things don’t get better there will be changes made” or a parent will say “Change your behavior or else”. In most cases, change is exactly what needs to occur. 

There is no reason to fear change. Remember, without change our lives would become very boring with the same old things and people day in and day out. More importantly, change is about learning and growing which will no doubt enrich our lives. When things change, it forces us to seek new opportunities. I can recall situations in my life where change was forced upon me and while it was scary at the time, it forced me to seek new opportunities that allowed me to flourish and I wouldn’t change that for anything. At the end of the day, change is like the weather. There’s nothing you can do about it anyway so we might as well stop talking about it.