With the advent of the new year, the potential for change is ever present. Whether it is the New Year’s resolution, setting goals for oneself, or just the basic assessment of the previous year, taking account of where we are, we all look forward to a better future at this time. And so we should, as new beginnings bring renewed hope.
But we are creatures of habit, of routine, following those past patterns of behavior readily. We find comfort in knowing what is going to happen, knowing what to expect. We will endure what may be the mundane because, at the end of the day, it seems like the safest course of action.
There is nothing wrong with following a known path. Being regimented can reduce stress and have great benefits for one’s health. It is easier to plan, to structure one’s future, knowing where one is going. And change solely for change’s sake may not necessarily be good. But it also makes us very predictable, and whom does that serve?
Society likes predictability, order, and structure. It allows it to place us in convenient boxes and cubicles. It enables it to dictate to us what will be, and we willingly accept this programming, conditioned to do so, following a herd mentality, as it seems the simplest, soundest course of action. We fear being different. More so, we fear being ostracized, being labelled deviant if we do not follow those norms that have been laid out before us.
For the most part, businesses and governments benefit most from this predictability, because they can strategize, if they do their jobs right, to develop systems that can breed efficiencies for society. But change is also a constant fact of life, disrupting these systems, causing much consternation, resulting in panic and fear at times. Remember, these systems are organisms in their own right, which will strive to ensure their own survival, regardless of whether it benefits society or not. They will try to control or, in the government’s case, manage change to mitigate these disruptions for their own good. Usually too slow to adapt, to innovate, and to overcome the inevitable changes that will occur, systems, by their very nature, propagate their own inevitable failures. And yet, we hold onto them because we fear any alternative possibility.
We should take solace, however, knowing that we, as people, are much more adaptable and resilient than systems, which suggests that we can undoubtedly accommodate change if we are willing to do so. If fears are used to control us, to hold us down, locking us up in a social panopticon, then hope and optimism can free us, if we are willing to embrace and to accept the inevitable changes that we will experience in this forthcoming year. Enjoy this adventure and help one another to achieve their goals. Working to help each other, this could become a phenomenal year.
John Kennair is an international consultant and doctor of laws who lives in St. Albert.
