Change

Change.

The one word the Labour Party chose as its mantra for the recent General Election campaign. They didn't win the landslide because of the pithiness of one word, but as a writer, a former teacher of English, it did resonate in its power and simplicity.

Terse political and public health declarations seemed to come of age in the Dominic Cummings / Boris Johnson / Rishi Sunak eras:

Get Brexit Done

Hands Face Space

Taking Back Control

Stop The Boats

I've probably missed some but you get the idea.

To cut through wider discourse, three words became valuable currency to simply convey intentions and they worked, even though now we know, with the Covid Inquiry, Matt Hancock snogging an aide, and the ramifications of Brexit on the economy and immigration, that the three words were perhaps paradoxical.

Sir Keir Starmer took a road less travelled by snipping three words to one: Change.

Change, as we know, carries a lot of weight.

It often scares and excites in equal measure.

Think about changing yourself and how difficult it can be. You and I are creatures of habit; we form these viewpoints, emotional stances on others and events, it is said, between the ages of 3 and 8.

If you had a childhood of abuse and neglect, a lack of power and control - these can often form into adult behaviours that can veer between control, manipulation, people pleasing to love, empathy and difficulties forming boundaries.

Change is sometimes resisted and sometimes embraced.

How do you view the concept of change?

When you shower, do you follow the same routine each time? I had a friend stay who started the shower before he got in to warm the room and water. I have a routine now of setting the shower to cold each morning for a few minutes of Wim Hof immersion, as I know cold water is meant to stimulate well-being. It's why cold water or wild swimming despite the shitty rivers and seas, remains popular perhaps.

My own routine when showering is wash hair, wash body, dry within the shower and clamber out. I've done that for decades. Shaving daily is the same - hot water, immerse razor, foam face, wash with hot water and end with cold to close the pores.

My point here is that habits are ingrained.

The friend who warms the water and bathroom before stepping in, probably does that at home. I would do the same routine of showering and shaving, regardless of where I am, as he does.

Creatures of routine

Leaving aside daily ablutions, we all form patterns as humans and animals. My border collie, Cassie, having never been a working dog in her life, has a genetic urge to herd. On our regular weekend walks, sheep heighten her senses and if, unleashed, she would harry and corral the livestock. She seems to be programmed for this, it's something in her brain.

Yet you can, if not a border collie, effect personal change. Develop new habits that become routine.

The bathroom provides another clear example - each morning and before bed, I'm sure 90% of us brush our teeth. It's something, if we had a normal childhood, that is instilled in us, so it becomes routine.

Change is constant

When I spent three happy weeks in Ho Chi Minh City in May 2024, flux was all around me. Manic energy, mad traffic on roads and yet I didn't witness accidents there, despite the roads seeming to have few rules. Horns were beeped not in rage but as warnings. Traffic lights were largely ignored, unless the local police were perched on bikes on corners.

Seasons change.

In Manchester dusk falls between 16.00 and 22.30 across the year, yet in Saigon it becomes pitch black at 18.10 each evening, all year round.

The philosophy of change

I've written before about philosophy and its impact on my own journey. Amor Fati is a stoic phrase attributed to Marcus Aurelius and it means love your fate. When Zeno was shipwrecked and lost all his worldly possessions, he reputedly said:

” Now that I've suffered shipwreck, I'm on a good journey.

Or take Thomas Edison, the inventor

His factory burned down on December 9, 1914.

Edison's response was to corral his family and friends to witness the loss, telling them they would never see a fire like this again in their lifetimes.

To one he replied, “I am 67; but I am not too old to make a fresh start.”

He rebuilt the factory from the ashes and became even more successful, galvanising the new workers with new equipment and fresh motivation.

Change

Last night, I went to the Saddleworth Philosophical Society where Change was the one word topic for two hours debate. It seemed apt, given the recent political events and the loss of the Euros 2024 by England to Spain.

In football terms, should there be change of manager in Gareth Southgate? Or should he be acknowledged as the greatest manager of England of all time. knighted and kept on for as long as he wants to continue?

Will the election result yield tangible change? I think so.

Change Begins

Finally, what I loved on Friday 5th July, apart from the evisceration of the Tory party, was that the new government doubled its election mantra to two words: Change Begins.

Whether that was a think tank or the work of one linguistic strategist, it is genius.

Change, in singular and nebulous form, became Change Begins, with the verb implying some sort of momentum and energy.

Perhaps those two words could be applied to our professional and personal lives - a commitment to improvement, a quest to support and help others, generating ideas that benefit ourselves and others, in atomic habits that become routines that lead to growth.

And, perhaps, an acceptance that you can change yourself - but changing others is challenging, or impossible?

What do you think?

Digital change

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I've been on a professional and personal journey of change in the past 10 years: leaving teaching in 2015, setting up and failing in many businesses, separating and become single, moving 200 miles away from Norwich to Manchester.

Change has been, at times, traumatic and liberating.

I know though that the past provides lessons for us and looking forward, not backwards in the rear view mirror, letting go and focusing on the present, is something I've had to accept and even embrace.

Change can be a positive force.