The Changeover

“There is nothing permanent except change.”- Heraclitus

I am sure almost of you readers have read this quote sometime in your life. So what do you think about it? Pretty deep huh? I would laugh at this very same quote back in time. I would think what changes? Everything is the same, my name, my body, my house, and my parents. NOTHING changes. Now when I think about this, I fail to think about things that don’t change in the course of life. EVERYTHING changes. I am sure somewhere Heraclitus is watching and laughing at me, “I ain’t a celebrated philosopher for nothing kid!” he would say.

Have you ever thought of this? Or is it only me? All changes we go through in life, from childhood to adolescence to adulthood to old age and then you die, yes you die. Sorry to be rude, just trying to add some humor there (Obviously death is a fun thing, just kidding). Getting back to the topic- change. I actually never realized this until a ray of self-actualization struck me while I was thinking about life on my toilet seat. This is surely because of the biggest transition in my life that occurred a year ago.

Shifting to a new place, a new country, a new continent actually- to the United States of America. I know what you’re thinking, shifting to the USA is not a big deal, and everybody does it nowadays. I agree, but everybody shifts according to a well laid planned, they start making preparations six months prior to their departure and most important, they know they’re going. I left for the USA on Oct 14^th 2013, and I didn’t know anything about shifting to the USA until Oct 1^st 2013. One of the wildest dreams I could have was shifting to the USA in 13 days. When my dad informed me about the final plan, I couldn’t believe him, I mean who would! I thought he’s just kidding with me and I remember I replied to him by saying “why USA, I’ve never been to moon either, let’s go there.” In fact, when I started informing my friends about it, they didn’t believe me either. One of my friends didn’t believe it until I was in the USA, she thought I was playing a prank as usual and didn’t even bother to meet me before I left. When she finally realized that I wasn’t kidding, I was already in the USA and she said “OMG Shrey! You could have told me that you were serious.” I had been telling her that I was serious since the last 13 days. (Yes Jahnvi, this is you if you’re reading this). But I can’t blame her, it took 13 days for me too to discover that my dad wasn’t actually kidding, I thought I was on a reality show or something, but no, life got real.

This was big. I can’t express what it felt like, this change. I couldn’t grasp, analyze, ingest and digest the reality. People were different, the way they spoke was different, roads were different, buildings were different, school curricula were different, sports were different, rules and regulations were different, the position of the driver’s seat was different, the festivals were different, the working hours were different, the weather was different, the lifestyle was different, the clothing was different and…just everything was different! It took so many differences for me to finally agree to what Heraclitus once quoted.

The change was overwhelming, I was deliriously happy at first but then the drastic change brutally murdered my confidence. I thought all eyes were popping out at me, I thought I couldn’t fit in this society. It was as if all these eyes were encapsulating me in a net of self-consciousness. Gradually I started spending more time looking at me in the mirror before leaving for school, just to make sure I didn’t look funny. To make it worse, I didn’t only think that people would find me funny and weird but I was also worried that they would think I am from India and so create a negative image for my country as well as for me. This was the time when I thought of all big transitions that had occurred in my life and how I coped up with them, just to seek inspiration from those instances. Moreover, my new friends and teachers made a vital contribution in getting me back from the “dead”. As a matter of fact, a very specific group of friends encouraged me to break out. I met them in Atlanta at school, and the since the day I met them, Shrey was definitely back. The first day I met them, they were crazy: dancing on tables, singing songs, fighting and teasing; totally my type of group. But they deceived me, tricked me really bad. I saw them getting all crazy and creating ruckuses at the lunch, however, they were the brightest students of the high school. As I got to know them, I realize that they’re crazy and they’re really smart. In a couple of months, a new face was dancing and fooling around with that group, and that was me. Also I managed to get in their AP classes, because face it people! I am smart (I like to flatter myself at times). They transformed me, I was back at being me. I was confident. I was happy.

I then realized that I wasn’t born to conform to the society and turn into just another face in the crowd. This change was actually an opportunity for me to explore myself and break all chains of reluctance and shame that held me back from being myself. Now that I think about it, all major changes that have taken place in my life have led me to discover a new inner self which is more productive, tough and well, awesome! All species that are subjected to any sort of change undergo evolution to adapt and survive better, the evolution theory by Charles Darwin; changes are the reason we develop into better beings, be it physiologically or psychologically. Don’t fear changes, for they are inevitable. Embrace them and evolve.