One of the most facinating aspects of life is that people transform, and at the same time, some people actually never do.
Human beings are ever-changing, Man was made to evolve so life tends to jump us into circumstances that make us develop, reconsider our ideologies, and even alter the entire course of direction we believed we were moving.
Often times, we ask question like:
Are individuals really changing what they are or is it just that we are adapting and changing our behavior as we have more experience?
As I have seen in life, the answer often lie somewhere in-between.
People absolutely grow. The experience alter our perception of the world. Lessons that we learn out of failure, responsibility, relationships, and hardship gradually create our decisions and reactions.
An impatient person can be taught to be patient over time. A person who was careless at some point will develop discipline after facing consequences.
Experience does in that regard refine us.
However, on close examination, our fundamental characteristics do not change as much as it would seem.
The individual who had always been inquiring when he was a boy tends to become a man in search of knowledge and new thoughts.
A kind person during his childhood will tend to take the kindness to the adulthood.
Even ambition, resilience or creativity tend to manifest themselves early in life and just get more polished in their course of life.
The basis of who we are does not always change it is how we deal with such traits.
To illustrate, a person who inherently has a bad temper may not totally get rid of that aspect of him or her. Rather than being immature and reactive, they can get wise and learn how to manage their response, communicate, and get that energy into fruitful work.
It is not a change of identity in the true sense, but productive development sounds better.
And development such as this demands something most people do not appreciate, which is self awareness.
Experience in itself does very little without reflection. Human beings are able to repeat the experiences they underwent without making any actual changes in themselves. However, when a person starts to take a sincere look into their actions, motives, and trends, that is when it will start to become developed.
With time, reflection has the ability of enabling a person to redefine the habits, change his or her perspectives, and be more purposeful in responding to life.
I have also realized that the individuals who develop most are not the ones who go through the most difficulties but those who are ready to learn through those hardships.
The process of Live in a lot of ways involves the polishing of the crude material of who we already are.
Our natural tendencies might not be totally eliminated, but we can enhance the aspects of ourselves that result to our better decision-making, relationships and emotional stability.
And that is a great way of transformation in itself.
Or maybe, it is not that people can change everything.
Perhaps the question really is whether we can be consciously ready to expand above our previous patterns.
Since the distance between a person who remains and a person who develops is often not his or her personality, it is rather his or her readiness to judge, change, and better himself or herself with time.