Change is Coming, and It Will Be Astounding
Spinning out is what happens to those who haven’t practiced embracing change and stubbornly dig their heels in
It’s been 10, maybe 15 years since I first heard of the notion of people either spinning up or spinning out, and in that time my life has been about constant change: two cross-country moves, numerous other moves, divorce and re-marriage, career changes, loss of interest in music while a kindling of an interest in writing, several lifestyle changes, and huge internal healing and growth.
I’ve become (sort of) used to change. I say “sort of” because I don’t know if we can ever be used to it in the sense that it doesn’t feel at least a little unsettling. It’s always unsettling because with change comes uncertainty. And yet, humanity has always sought to create a world of certainty when everything is constantly changing.
But there is another kind of change that has been slowly brewing from the depths of human consciousness. I don’t know when it started precisely. The seeds of this change might stretch back for hundreds of years. Maybe with the invention of the Gutenberg press? Maybe with the steam engine. Most likely with the huge upheaval of human culture that resulted from industrialization.
We got on a tread mill. We accepted the new constraints and controls because of the promise of steady work with a livable wage in the city in which everything was accessible within walking distance. The electrification of cities meant that night life became something infinitely more exciting and different.
The promise of more leisure time, more comfort, and more predictability motivated us to accept the advance of modernity. But it’s never worked out that way. Well yes, we definitely have more comfort, but more time?
The change that’s coming is inevitable, like any small change in an ecosystem that results in hundreds of small cascading changes, like one domino to another. In 1995 and 96’ a mere 31 wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and since then researchers have observed dramatic changes to the ecosystem including the return of certain species of trees that provided resources to the beavers, which changed the make-up of river valleys, reduced erosion, brought back birds that had left the area, grasslands, and so much more.
How could it be any different that the march of modernity would not have equally dramatic changes on the nature of human culture and consciousness?
Everything we do, no matter how seemingly insignificant, has a corresponding effect. Everything is cascading in one direction or another. The metaphorical flapping of the butterfly wings in South America causing a thunderstorm in North America.
And yet we seek constancy, predictability, solidity, and a kind of determinant future in which we have nothing to fear. But this is a fool’s journey because the only constant is change, and everything we do has an effect on the direction of the future. Every act of unkindness or kindness, being stingy or generous, judgmental or accepting, self-righteous or graceful, hateful or loving has an effect on the greater whole.
I’ve been hearing certain individuals for that past 30 years share the notion that it’s arrogant to assume that mere human activity could have any effect on such things as global temperature changes. That we are too small to have such an effect. But 31 wolves changed the entire ecosystem of Yellowstone and the changes resulting from their reintroduction are still being observed as they continue to cascade almost 30 years later.
We want predictability so we don’t have to live lives of uncertainty. We fear letting go of what we have because we can’t imagine how we’ll survive if things get worse, while giving away the potential for better for the sake of sameness. But sameness is a thing in itself, with its own set of cascading changes. Not changing or not embracing change doesn’t stave off the inevitability of change. We can’t avoid it.
Spinning out is what happens to those who haven’t practiced embracing change and stubbornly dig their heals in, using force in all its forms to maintain the status quo. We spin out instead of up when we haven’t prepared ourselves for change by embracing every little change life has to offer.
How do we embrace change? By feeling the uncertainty, the unsettledness, the fear of it. With each small change we practice feeling the feeling. Of course it sucks. But we feel it anyway so that when larger changes come we don’t cave in, get drunk, behave badly, do rash things. Instead we take the change in stride because we’ve conditioned ourselves to change.
I know people who have lived in the same house for 50 years. I find that unfathomable because I’ve lost count how many times I’ve moved. I don’t judge them — I just can’t understand it. The longest I’ve lived in any one home is 10 years, and I felt stagnant as the years ticked by.
Next week Maria and I are moving again. We’re letting go of our ridge-top view of the surrounding mountains, the panoramic collection of windows that let in the light and beauty while releasing warmth in the winter and baking us in the summer. Instead we’re moving to a smaller abode with few windows, a low unfinished ceiling, and flat wooded land. But it comes with a small barn, a greenhouse, a chicken coop with real chickens already living there.
There will be challenges while many things will become easier for us. Less space, but more accessible outdoor spaces as we’ll be on flat ground verses the top of a ridge that drops off a mere 15 feet from the house. And many other pros and cons. Just another life change to embrace — to feel the uncertainty.
I’m also seeking another career change, as remote work is now a thing that an increasing number of companies are embracing. And Maria and I are questioning whether we want to continue living in this particular area at 7,400 feet elevation with long winters and occasionally impassible roads. We’re just considering, dialoging, being open to options.
The big change I’m referring to is the shifting zeitgeist of human consciousness. I’ve been feeling it for the past 10 years, and it feels like it’s escalating. It’s like water building up against a wall. The wall can contain the water for only so long before the pressure is too much, and the wall begins to give. I see the wall giving. And I see people spinning out.
Those who are spinning out are doing crazy things, saying crazy things, sacrificing their integrity and sanity to maintain the status quo. Which is like piling furniture against the wall thinking it will keep the water from breaking through, but instead is just making more of a mess of things.
It’s important to recognize that those who are spinning out are the ones who have not practiced embracing change and they are merely acting in last ditch desperation hoping they can contain the building water on the other side of the wall.
But water cannot be denied. It will find the cracks. It will bulge at the weak spots. It will weaken the structure and it will have its way. Cascade changes are coming. The signs are there if we look for them.
And here’s a clue. Look to the young people. The generation of children growing up with active shooter drills, social-media-driven depression, and voter suppression. The change is coming, and it will be astounding.
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In change we experience the direction of evolution. While it can feel good or bad, wonderful or confusing, in the long run it's an ascent in consciousness. Resistance generates suffering; flowing with promotes understanding and peace of mind.
I have moved many times. I seem to get bord with the same ol' same ol'. I have a constant internal struggle with my wants. I want to travel, I want a garden, I want dogs, I want chickens, I want to go to DC, I want to go to Costa Rica. Things do calm down when I stay in one spot but it seems my inablility to allow others their weirdnesses has done me in over and over. I moved once as I found the gossip toxic, once as I was in MAGA hell, once as I did not want to run into my ex, several times for jobs I did not stay at. On the upside, I have met so many wounderful people, seen amazing things. I respect when someone puts down roots, they chose the chickens and garden. Every choice puts you on a new path and there are no wrong choices. In my opinion. Enjoy