In my junior year here at Fort Lewis College, change decided to give me a backhand slap in the face. There is really no point in bringing up what the change is, so I will address what change in general can mean to someone.

When you hear the phrase, “Change is inevitable” come from someone’s mouth, chances are that this person is familiar with the term entropy, an idea stemming from physics. Entropy, in layman’s terms, states that a system can never return perfectly to its original state, that everything degrades and complicates from its original state, that only chaos will ensue.

You do not need a college degree to realize this physics’ concept has huge implications philosophically.

I often hear people say that they wish they could return to their childhood, to be oblivious to the hurts and intricacies that their current point in time forces upon them. Obviously, you, me and everybody else in the world can never return to that state.

To say, “Change is for the better” would be far too cliche, a generalization that anyone who is going through something complicated, uncomfortable or just downright painful in their life would disagree. Change sucks sometimes.

But, like the over-played ‘90s rock song, “Closing Time” by Semisonic, tells us, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

I get it, I am being soppy and moody and whiny, but I suppose my point is that regardless of how change affects you now, it is the future you have to keep in mind.

There will be times when you fear your mind will burst at the seams, when you think the world will simply collapse.

Or maybe the world just keeps turning, ignorant to your situation, not giving you a moment to take a breath to know which door is next after one just slammed shut on your face.  

Or you no longer think the world is worth the trouble, that you will simply give in and let change take you where it will, closing your eyes as the river of life pulls you ever closer to a steep waterfall or a quiet lagoon.

Instead of wallowing about the past, present or future, try to live life five minutes at a time. You find a way to pull yourself away from your despair, and keep your head above water.

When you can live life five minutes at a time without letting change consume you, try to live seven minutes at a time. If that becomes too much for you, try five minutes at a time again.

You do whatever it takes until the day comes where you can look that change in its ugly, grimacing face, and smile at it. That’s the day you can break the power it holds over your life.

Change will not stop coming.

After all, as entropy entails, things can only get more chaotic from the original state. It is finding a way to work from one change to the next, living minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day.