Monday, October 6, 2014

Old Boots New Dirt...

Blog friend and personal friend, (I'm proud to say!) Erik, of  'Erik's Choice' asks a question this week on his blog that has me thinking....

Can people really change?

Physically, of course we can.  I have lost and gained weight over the years, but always seem to pretty much settle back to the same poundage.  It's my m.o. to cut and grow my hair, even tho it seems to morph back into the same mid-length blond do.  We do not need to address the changes in my skin. :(

Can we re-invent ourselves or are we just acting?  And what's the difference?  Life experiences constantly form us.  How we were raised plus our choices has built our character and personality.  Nurture or nature?  Both, I think!  As women, we spend time learning the hard lesson-that men rarely change.  If we go into relationships and think we can change the man's habits or persona-we are sadly mistaken.  But I've seen men, and women, that want to improve to be 'better' people.  Seems that that only works if we change for OURSELVES and not others.  Pressuring anyone to our needs only causes regrets and blame later.  But that is only my experience. 

Aging changes us both physically and mentally as we take more 'laps around the block' and season us a little.  Losing our naivety is inevitable and you could chalk it up to personal growth.  Trauma can get imprinted on our brains, changing the way we view things.  Still, I think we are who we are if we can say and do what is true to ourselves. 

Fellow Detroiter Mitch Albom has a cool take on changing.  He says, "One day spent with someone you love, can change everything."   Amen and yee haw! xo

3 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I tend to think it takes a long time and many experiences to change a person internally.

Erik Donald France said...

Hey hey, Jodi ~ all right ~!

Yeah, I often wonder this even in little things like some people are always early and some late, some cheap and some extra generous, stuff like that. There's always the transformation of Grinch and Scrooge to think of -- fictional characters :->

jodi said...

Charles-I totally agree. Erik-The Grinch! He's one of the best transformations ever! People cant change if they don't realize they are late, cheap, etc. Oh well!
Hugs my Amigos!