Evolution by Cherry

Close your eyes (metaphorically) and think back to 2nd grade science. Ice, Water, Vapor—all made up of H2O but entirely different substances. Water is everchanging, a widely accepted notion. Each phase serves its own purpose, a vital one that shapes life on earth. A purpose that only comes with transformation. 

Change permeates the world, and we accept it as fact. We don’t argue that the leaves change color, the clouds grow and shrink, flowers wither. So why do we argue that people are the exception? 

“They’ll never change.”  Words that have most likely left your mouth, my mouth and millions of other mouths. 

As humans we lock into a notion and keep it, not wanting to be pushed out of the neat boxes we organize. We like the idea of order, of black and white, of comfort, but our biology at its very core argues with this.  I apologize to all of the science survivors out there in advance because I am about to invoke some deep buried PTSD.

Entropy. A term defined as lack of order or predictability; a gradual decline into disorder. Entropy is the natural state of the world. It dictates that everything is changing, trying to go into its natural state of frenzied atoms and molecules (or binary digits depending on where you are on the internet).  

Life in itself can’t stay the same and we are not exempt to this. Humans are growing, moldable organisms. Even the deepest, most core parts of us are predisposed to change. 

Change is something we overdramatize.  It’s not always a leap from one edge of a cliff to the next, even a simple shuffle forward is a change. The shirt that you said you needed above all else and now lies crumpled in the dark recess of your closet is an example of you revising yourself

The dreaded emo phase that hit me like a poorly-timed identity earthquake? Also change. And thank goodness it did because if I had stayed in that era of smudged eyeliner and performative angst, I’d probably still be posting blurry black-and-white selfies with captions like “nobody understands me.” 

We grow out of things because something in us knows we’re meant to expand. Staying exactly the same would mean freezing—and nothing that’s meant to live can survive frozen.

Change is everything and anything. It’s the way you suddenly stop laughing at the joke that used to be your whole personality (though the dab will never stop being funny). It’s realizing you don’t fit comfortably in an old version of yourself anymore, like wearing shoes two sizes too small. 

Change doesn’t always roar; sometimes it whispers, “Hey, you’ve outgrown this.”

And ignoring that whisper? That’s where the real damage happens. When you force yourself to stay the same for the sake of familiarity, you shrink. You bend yourself into shapes that no longer fit … and call it loyalty. 

But the truth is, every good thing in your life came from a moment when you dared to step out of that shrinking space—when you allowed yourself to want better, or be better. Or even just try.

Think about it: every person you respect, every story that inspires you, every moment you’re proud of in your own life—none of those came from staying still. They came from a shift. A choice. A moment when the ground felt unsteady but you moved anyway.

And look at nature for a second. Rivers carve canyons by refusing to stay inside the lines drawn for them. Trees split sidewalks because growth doesn’t ask for permission. Even your own body, right now as you read this, is rebuilding itself cell by cell, atom by atom. Do you feel it? 

If you concentrate you can feel the better of your heart, the rush of blood in your body, working to rebuild and change. Sorry, for the hyperawarness I just activated.  Regardless, nothing in the universe holds the exact same shape for long.

So why should you?

Change isn’t a betrayal of who you were. It’s a continuation. A widening. A becoming. Staying the same may feel like safety, but it quietly locks the doors around you and makes recycled toxins feel like the best you will ever get.  Stagnation keeps you happy but weak, leaving you to breathe in your comfort, but also the poison of your mistakes. Meanwhile, change cracks a window and combines with  everything, combats the toxin, and lets the fresh air in.

You’re not meant to stay in one season forever.

You’re meant to move, to shift, to stretch.

Once there lived a fool and wise man

A dream of treasure both had their eye

The fool found his perch and awaited its arrival

The wiseman set off with only his bag for survival

The treasure was soon found by the one who dared to step out

While the one who stayed wasted into grout

Change is the stepping stone to success 

Staying the same will leave little but a mess.