This time of year always brings about a series of upgrades. Most people attempt to experience the upgrades by setting New Year’s Resolutions. And we all know why those don’t work out.
There are two ways to go about “upgrading.”
Don’t or do. Don’t do the upgrades to your smartphone or computer and eventually hit a wall. Your device will stop working the way it should. Do the upgrades and, despite the learning curve, things will work the way they should.
I know people who refuse to run updates on their computer. Why? They are afraid of learning new functionality. Functionality that might improve their lives. So, they stick with the same operating system that came with their computer. Which will work fine for a time. But, soon you’ll lose any customer support because your system is so outdated. You might lose the ability to update software, or install new software. Web browsing will become an issue as well. The internet gets faster and bigger, and if you don’t upgrade, you won’t see web pages the way they are designed. That’s if you see the pages at all. You’ll stay in a comfort zone, sure. But you’ll have a hard time navigating because of your outdated operating system.
Similarly, if we don’t make upgrades to ourselves, we won’t be able to interact with the world around us. Sure, we’ll stay comfortable (mostly), and we’ll find ways around our deficiencies. But we won’t thrive. We’ll lost the ability to interact with other people in a healthy way, demanding that they conform to our personality. What starts as stagnation will turn to digression.
Personal upgrades are about allowing change to happen in ourselves so that we can work the way we should. So that we can experience new functionality that will improve our lives. And it turn, allow us to interact with our world in a healthy way.