Change for the Sake of Change

(or Rant on Changes)

I'm the sort of person that doesn't deal well with change. As a general rule, with any modification to my life and schedule comes crankiness, forgetfulness, and new and creative uses of foul language.

Most of the daily changes I have to deal with tend to be forced by the management of the company for which I work. It is definitely a company that is willing to e xperiment with new ways of doing things, or at times to re-experiment with an old way of doing things (that probably didn't work very well). Of course, the employees fill the position of “lab rats” in this process, paying for the management's mistakes in blood, sweat, and unnecessary overtime hours.

So they change things, and then change them back, numerous times before settling on a course of action – usually the way it was before they started messing with it – and then pick something else to play around with like a kitten that has bored with its ball of yarn. Sometimes they change break schedules, other times job processes are modified. Other times yet they have changed entire shifts, forcing workers into new schedules to accommodate the company or even to quit entirely because their personal lives couldn't be so totally re-arranged on a whim.

Lets just suffice to say that I do tire of feeling like I'm owned by my employer... but that could be another post in and of itself so we'll move on.

Aside from work changing things, sometimes seemingly at random, there are many other sources of so-called “improvements” to life. Recently the State of Ohio passed legislation that changes child booster seat requirements so that our son is required to sit within a booster until he is 7 years old. While I understand the intent behind the law, it makes absolutely no concession for those of us who drive older vehicles that do not have shoulder belts in the back seats. As a result, my only way to comply with the law is to have my son ride in the front seat whenever he rides with me (which isn't terribly often).

Furthermore, booster seats are not intended to be used with a locking clip (that little metal H-shaped thing that locks the seat belt), but the belts in my older vehicles do not lock without it, further complicating my compliance with the law.

Fortunately the law doesn't require the booster to be placed in a back seat or I'd be completely screwed... Am I seriously in a minority to be a licensed driver with a vehicle over 20 years old and a booster-aged child? I understand the goal trying to protect children from vehicular deaths but laws need to be written in a manner that can be reasonably applied. I can't spent hundreds of dollars installing new seat belts in my vehicles (not that I'd even be able to find someone who could do it considering the availability of parts for them) and I'd really rather have my son restrained in the back seat, but I will comply to the best of my ability.

So while I deal with government and work changing things on me, I still have to deal with changes within my own family. My wife is starting a new job Monday and my son starts his home schooling the Monday proceeding. Both changes promise to bring new challenges to my schedule, including the need to wake up earlier while work forces me to go to bed later due to steadily increasing overtime. We won't even get into the havoc being wrought on Hickersonian economic policy, suffice to say that the budget has been overhauled six or seven times in the last month. While, like everything else, I know I'll make it through, I still have to acknowledge the stress and anxiety I feel constantly about it all.

So I sit down now with my morning coffee and try to find some way to relax before I face another day of random changes that serve little or no purpose, less random changes that serve other peoples' purposes, and purposeful changes that still continually leave me feeling like everything is out of control. I hope there will eventually be a time when I can get past it and just let it happen without apprehension, fear, or worry... but I honestly think I'm just “wired” to feel this way and that is one thing that will probably never change.