Article: The Imperativeness Of Change

By Livy-Elcon Emereonye

"It takes all the running you can do to stay in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that." - Lewis Carroll



From conception to birth through growth and death, we are in a continuum of change laced with opportunities and threats – and what we do or fail to do with them count!

In search of opportunities and in pursuit of ambition, some people have sold their conscience and betrayed trust, forgetting that however smart or otherwise, we can’t run away from our shadows. Oftentimes, our today is a function of our yesterday in the same way that our yesterday’s tomorrow is just our today!

Change is the only constant phenomenon in life – and it comes per second. However, many of us have not understood the import of such change for if we did, we would have been more humane and cautious with the things we do and how we do them.

Some of us live as if tomorrow won’t come, and some go ahead to play God forgetting that our actions and inactions today will speak for or against us tomorrow. Yes, whatever we sow, we must reap but in many folds.

We are change agents that change with time yet continuously we hear of the need for change! But is it real? Yes, it is. Change is here to stay - not that it ever went away, meaning that change can be positive or negative thus the need, desire and strife for positive change. Being a constant phenomenon change always comes with or without our knowledge, consent or permission and its associated result directly or indirectly affects us.

“Change always seems like it is new and going faster all of the time, yet history is full of stories of non-stop change. Roman Centurions complained about it. The Luddites revolted over mechanization and there were riots in the streets of Paris over Pascal's first calculating machine (which he invented to help his clerk father). Wars, too, have always been hotbeds of change. Innovations, both destructive and good, abound. Organizations are ripped apart. Whole populations are changed forever. And change does not stop when people stop fighting in the streets - the battles just move to the boardroom, the office and the factory floor.”

If change must come and it always comes, why not condition and align yourself to influence the change and the outcome of such change? Why not swim with the shark and at the same time soar with the eagle? Visualize the change you desire and go for it! Be a game changer – and change the change as a dominant player!

We cannot achieve much with mere complaint and criticism but rather by active participation. We cannot get results by just dreaming but through the integration of working faith into real, feasible dreams. We can only influence and change the world for better through active involvement. So who are you and what do you do; and how has your being and work affected others and the world in relation to your competitive advantage?

It has been said and right that in a race without end, there are no winners, only losers. “Change ability means survival. It means living to fight another day. It is an advantage that many seek and few find.” Don’t forget that if you’re not improving, you’re getting worse so change for the better.

In life, everyone faces an increasing amount of change but only those that effectively navigate, thoughtfully and systematically manage the change will succeed so to remain afloat and relevant, positive-productive transformation is imperative and inevitable.

Whether we know it or not, we are here for a purpose. We are an integral part of the cycle of existence. We complement one another for the bigger whole so whatever you do to someone you invariably did for yourself. In other words, whether you are cheering someone or being cheered into evil; whether you are indifferent or reactionary to injustice; whether you are scheming for someone’s downfall or upliftment for whatever reasons, always remember that whatever you sow that you must reap at the appropriate time!

In the continuum of change, those with the penchant for destroying others are easily destroyed by others.