The Art of - Being Adaptable

“It is said that before entering the sea

a river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled,

from the peaks of the mountains, the long winding road crossing forests and villages. And in front of her, she sees an ocean so vast, that to enter there seems nothing more than to disappear forever. But there is no other way. The river cannot go back. Nobody can go back. To go back is impossible in existence. The river needs to take the risk of entering the ocean because only then will fear disappear,

because that’s where the river will know, It’s not about disappearing into the ocean,

but of becoming the ocean.”

By- Khalil Gibran

I came across this inspirational poetry a while ago and it gave me strength and confidence at a point when I was making one of the most difficult and crucial career decisions of my life.

‘To adapt’ is not a new phrase or a next gen mantra, it is what our ancestors, Homo sapiens, developed as a gene expression. Well hypothesized by Charles Darwin that It is not the strength of the species or the intelligence, it is in fact the ability to adapt to change that governs the survival.

We, as humans, are gifted with the skill to adapt and recast. Its an instinctive trait mapped within our genome. However, in challenging times, our fears overpower our instinctive adaptability patterns. Fear of being wrong, fear of having made a wrong decision/choice, fear of “what will they say”. Let us imagine that these fears seem plausible (just for a bit!). In that case, the entire human race as we know would not have existed. Our fears would have vanquished our necessity to create fire or to kill the first mammoth.

At this point, I recall a discussion I once had with my then-7-year-old daughter in order to prove to her on how creativity and curiosity sets you apart from others. She very innocently asked me that if humans have evolved from monkeys then why do we see still see monkeys? To answer her question in the simplest way, I explained that its because the curious ones evolved and adapted moving to the next level whereas the not-so-curious ones continued being monkeys. 😊 Thus proven time and again that change is, indeed, the only constant.

Like Bruce Lee said, “Become formless, shapeless like water. Become water, my friend”.

Do not be scared to change, to innovate, to go into realms you never imagined yourself in. Accept and see yourself being empowered by the instinctive spirit of Adaptation.

What is Adaptability from your perspective? How has this enriched your life? Would love to hear your comments. Together we share and learn.

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