2017 is now upon us. For many of us a new year brings hope of a different, if not better, life than we had in the previous (and previous and previous and previous…) year. After all, that’s why we bother with New Year’s resolutions: great aspirational goals, too short lived in the doing, and too ineffective in the end. One might even suggest that such resolutions are (too) simple solutions to complex problems of human behaviour. But at least they represent good intentions for all their shortcomings.
When deciding we want to change something—our life, our car, our family, whatever—we compare what we now have with what we believe we will have after the change. Sort of like looking one way then the other before stepping out to cross a road.
Looking one way we see the past. Memories of its failures, its barriers, its highlights, it’s nitty grittiness. But the shadows of that past, in which we now live, are strong, deep and pervasive. In them are buried lost and forgotten dreams, deeds and decisions. It is from this ghost that we wish to escape. Hence, we seek change.
So we look the other way, longing to see a future quite remote from the past. An open door leading to somewhere different and better, somewhere safer, somewhere in which we can escape the shadows of our past and feel cosseted from life’s too-great challenges and threats.
For some—those who embrace change and persevere with its implementation—that open door does indeed lead to fulfilled expectations. These few are reborn, renewed, reinvigorated, their resolutions achieved.
Yet for the remainder—the vast majority—change is ephemeral. It remains but a desire, wishful thinking, providing comfort through imagination. The cost of change is too high, its benefits too low. So we maintain the status quo. But not quite.
In the act of seeking change we have indeed changed. Recognising the need to change takes us one step closer to that open door of idealised future. Meanwhile, our haunting shadows remain, but with less oppression; our challenges become clearer; our perspective broader. All the while the nitty gritty of our life continues to both repel and attract us.
Life surely is perverse.
Words and images 