adapt to change

This blog article is the result of a conversation I had last week around 2am in front of my house. A friend of mine and me discussed the possibilities to produce changes in the world and increasing the awareness for topics like climate change, third world aid or anti-Semitic thoughts. How can we, being aware of these problems, inspire those who sometimes even don’t know about them, to rise their interest and engagement in order to improve society?

Many people who are quite active attend demonstrations, host alternative parties or just exclude themselves from the society we live in trying to be different. But is this the best method to improve the world? I personally doubt that. And – I have some thoughts, how we could do better. We must create change through adaption.

about adaption

I know it might sound weird: adaption to create change. For most people the term ‘adaption’ has the same meaning as ‘acceptance’, which includes a passive and noncritical way of dealing with things. For me ‘adaption’ is positive. It describes the way of understanding, observing and analyzing the problems we have to solve.

Our environment is the best example to explain the aspects of adaption. Animals adapt to their environment in order to feed themselves and grow offsprings. Plants adapt themselves to the climate changes of a year. Nature teaches us: if you want to interact with the environment around you, you first have to understand how it works.  

For us that means, if we want to change a situation, we first have to analyze and go with it. 

create the changes from inside

I have an image for you: imagine an economist who manages a lot of money and is well known as a person who cuts jobs in order to increase his own fortune and power. Society finds out about it, and very soon demonstrations against his company will take place. There will be articles on social media and the news might mention it, but what happens to the manager? Nothing! He might just take the backdoor in order to go home. Imagine a second version introducing a young economist who works in the same field. He also does not agree with the method of our first economist. Therefore he introduces a plan, how this economic field must be conducted and publishes the plan online, so the society will be informed about that. In addition to that he creates a workshop for interested people to exchange ideas about how to change the situation. 

Which case do you think will affect our manager more? I am pretty sure that it will be the second one. Why? The reason is, he does not fear the outside, but the inside.

pathways or crossroads?

Adaption in this case means we have to become a part of the inside in order to change something. The young economist possibly studied economics, gained a profound knowledge about the field and is able to have precise ideas but also concrete interaction on a professional level. If you want to change our economic system, if you don’t agree with capitalism, there is one thing you have to do: study economics and start working in that field to improve it.

Change is always a question of power. Power has many different faces, such as financial support, followers or knowledge. It is easier to work with the force, which is already there, instead of creating a new one. Taking the given is a resource. People believe in what they’ve already known and experienced.

Taking the given is a tool we use in movement therapy too. Working with a patient doesn’t mean showing him my wonderful way of moving, but understanding the way he moves, take it as a resource and try to create something new out of this.

Let’s say you want to change the way people use social media. Then you should not exclude yourself from using social media, but create a webpage, which teaches people how they could use social media.

change on a long-term perspective

Change is nothing to start in the morning and to finish in the evening. Who wants to have an impact needs to think long-term, which includes your own preparation.

The long-term perspective includes profound research about the topic you want to work in, maybe study it, or research for information. On the other hand, joining a demonstration against something for one day is a short-term solution, but won’t have a great impact in the future.

This sounds rather pessimistic, but it is not! No one has to change the whole world, but if you focus on one or two things you want to improve, you will achieve loads by working in a profound and precise way.

be an invisible alternative

I also had witnessed the so called “alternative bubble”. In my city you find such places, where people try to exclude themselves from the given situation and live an alternative way. There is nothing to argue about this decision – the point is: two blocks away no one knows about it. And these are the people who should know, being the majority we want to mobilize with our ideas.

The second problem is fear. I can tell from my own perspective: I am afraid of demonstrations. Being a small person, I avoid violent and uncontrolled environments, knowing that I will be the first to be hurt if something happens. So I circumvent these places, even though the ideas attendees fight for might be good and should invite people to join in.

This inspires me to introduce another aspect of adaption: if you want to reach people, you must speak the language they can understand.

Take nature as an example again: a tree who wants to grow does not fight against the wind, but is flexible enough to join its movement.

Adapt – and leave something new

If we adapt and follow, maybe for many years, how should be stick to our original ideas without being changed by society or the companies we work at?

I believe that many of us don’t know how much power they already have and the self-confidence which should result from that.

We are all teachers, engineers, doctors or something else we can use to improve things. A teacher who wants to help refugees can join a project about teaching children in third world countries. Every one of us is a resource for this world. We just need to see and take it. Therefore we should connect ourselves with the given, use it, and create something new out of it.

for vlo, thank you for the drum-night and the chocolate-energy-ball.