Wasting Time

Over my years, I have learned you cannot change people. You can hope and wish and hint at change, but really it is a futile endeavour. You can choose to get down in the pit with a person or be the person with a rope and wait with patience for them to grab hold. You can be the help and you can be the support but you cannot be the change in anyone but yourself.

You can, however, change how react. You can change how you move forward. You can choose where to put forth your energy. You can have faith that your positive choices will eventually have a positive effect on those around you. But change doesn't happen overnight. You can't hope for change before bed and wake up to find everything as you hope. Just like you can't plant a garden one day and wake up expecting a full harvest the next day.

The garden metaphor is a good one for me. Years ago, when we moved out here, I started my first garden with a very green thumb. I made plenty of mistakes. Knowing I wanted better results I reached out to experienced gardeners. I read gardening books and websites. Each spring, I implemented changes and each year I saw improvements. Had I not made any changes over the years, I would still be dealing with the same frustrating results.

Find a recurring event in your life and evaluate how you react to it. It will be different for everyone. Food, children, spouses...? Is your reaction the same every time? If you react the same every time, why are different results expected? How will you change your reaction to get different results?

Just some food for thought.