Flexibility

What have you changed your mind about? Not a small thing — something you would once have argued for, and now would not. When did it turn, and did it feel like losing, or like setting something down?

Opinions stiffen. So do routines, friendships, marriages, and the story we keep telling about who we are. Bodies too — that is only the version you can see. And where have you actually loosened? Most of us are more bendable now than we were, about the things that turn out to matter.

What has bending given you? The person you would have missed if you had held your position. The work you would never have found. The thing you were sure you would hate.

We might look back at the times we stayed rigid and the times we loosened our grip, and explore which gave us pride and which gave us regret. They are not always the ones we expect.

And perhaps we get to some more challenging questions... How can we tell when bending or staying firm is the way to go? When is bending not a virtue at all, and where is the line between being adaptable and being erased? Who in your life affects your stance — and was that arrangement ever actually agreed to?

We'll all bring what 'flexibility' means to us right now — quietly, or loudly. Come even if there's a foot of snow. We're plowed. And expect to be moved.