What's the Difference in Change?

"Sometimes you meet someone who changes your life; but that doesn't mean your life has to change"...



In life, we meet a lot of people.
Unknowingly, we cross the path of many people without realising if we would affect them in some way or another.

At the cafe for breakfast, at work in the office or when we attend to an appointment, during lunch, after office hours at the mamak stall while having a cuppa after a long day, at the restaurant when it's time to have a decend meal before heading on home, etc....



Some, we remember their names.
Others, if we have crossed paths, their faces.

Most of the time, we play a role in changing others without realising it.
Imagine ordering the last piece of chicken, leaving the person next in the queue having to settle for fish, only to be served an uncooked one, resulting in food poisoning.

Or taking a little too long at the petrol pump, causing certain uneasiness to the car behind us, but in the end saved the driver's life because you made him leave the pump a few seconds later just to avoid an accident at the exit of the station...

Extreme examples?
Think again...



However, closer to heart, it could be our family members, the acquaintances, ex-schoolmates, friends, soul-mates, or even our - what do we call them - life partners?...

We know that nothing is permanent, that all relationship(s) will somehow end no matter what, either through choice, change of events or through the natural process of life & death.

When these people enter our lives, to a certain extend our lives change.
Whether for the better or for the worse, we can neither doubt their influence nor deny their effect they will have on us.
Expectations, circumstances, situations that we can either control or we can't, dictate that these changes will take place in a subtle manner in most cases, or profoundly in many more.


So, how do we live up to this?
Do we change as well, adapting to the needs & wants of these people?
Do we change because they are there to change our lives?
Do we change because we need to make these people happy & we want to keep them around us?

Or do we change because it would simply mean we would be redundant, stuck with the unpleasant circumstances we brought on ourselves & head towards a downward spiral if we don't?


Does it matter if these people are newly-made acquaintances, a sibling, a soul-mate or a close friend of a thousand years?

Or best still, what if the change is so necessary that it would mean your reputation & all that you have build in your life?


In life people walk in & out of our sands of time.
But only those who matter will leave a deep footprint in our hearts.


How often does this happen to you?