Change can be hard.

by Suzanne Seay

I think of myself as being pretty flexible and affirmatively responsive to change.

But this morning, when I sat down at my computer and opened a Microsoft Word document, I was neither flexible nor affirmative. I was downright aggravated.

What do you mean you’re changing the look of Word documents?!? I loved my old taskbar; it looked exactly how I wanted it to! Where are all my favorite little icons at the top that I use a thousand times a day?!? You’re killing me!

I know Word’s new look will soon become familiar to me, and my eyes and fingers will soon adjust to knowing exactly where to click without even thinking about it.

But the transition period is painful.

I know Word has to upgrade regularly because that’s the way the world works. And I won’t resist it, but I will complain for a few minutes here in the hopes that it makes me feel better.

Feeling irked that what was so familiar has suddenly become unfamiliar does give me more empathy for my 99-year-old mother, who says, each and every time she opens her computer, “It looks different!”

Today, I am echoing her words. But I will work hard for the rest of the day to accept the things I cannot change (and to be less like my mother).