People don't like change. They're resistant to it. That's what they say, right? Not me. I love change. In fact, without enough of it I feel stagnant and bored. My mother always called me a noodge. That's a Yiddish word for a person who bothers you, but my mom used it more specifically to connote that I had ants in my pants and always had to be busy and moving. "Don't be such a noodge," she'd say.
From my noodgie days as a child all the way through adulthood, few things have remained constant. I have been switching things up for years. I have for example, always enjoyed moving furniture around. Even as a child when my furniture was custom designed and built for my room, I would try to arrange it differently. Once we moved and I was in high school, I had an even bigger room with fewer pieces of furniture. But there was always a different corner or wall or open space in which to try my bed. At one point I remember angling it to jut out right into the center of my room.
Later, when I moved in with my husband, I can recall days when he'd come home from work and wonder what happened to all the furniture. The first time, he was downright amazed I could move all the heavy pieces by myself. Eventually, he caught on that when I got into the mood for a change, if there was a will there was a way. You can imagine what this does to your students when you are a teacher! I was forever looking for a better, more spacious, more effective way to move the furniture around. When things were feeling a little slow or boring in my class, I always knew a change-up in the furniture would make me feel better, usually the students too! These days, it's my office and the changes are less frequent, but I still rearrange where my computer is on my desk, or my bookshelves. When you're bored, or feeling restless, a little change would do you good. At least that's what Sheryl Crow said.
Rearranging furniture isn't the only way I like to change things up. After living in the same house for most of my childhood, and a second one in high school after my parents split up (Mom just sold this house after living there for 28 years- she doesn't dig change as much as I do), I lived in lots of different places. College of course doesn't count, but after graduation my husband and I moved in together and got married the following year. We lived in five different places- 3 apartments, 2 houses in three years. Then we had our son. Think that's change enough? We moved so many times our son didn't know what home meant. I'm just kidding. But our relatives sure did get aggravated with the inch-high stack of address stickers they had to keep placing over our spot in their address books (Thank Apple no one has those anymore).
When my son was four months old, we lived with my mom for a short time while we looked for a house. Then we bought a house, then we sold it (Are you counting? That's two.). After we sold, we moved into an apartment. Next we moved from an apartment to a townhouse in the same development, and then to an apartment somewhere completely different (That's three more.). Finally, our son was starting kindergarten and I got a great new job and we moved to another townhouse (That's one more). It was great until my husband took over a business in a different city, and I got a job relocation next to that city, and we moved again. This time it was the house my husband grew up in. His parents relocated and still had the house. We lived there for over a year (That's another) until we finally decided to buy a house again. We stayed there for two years and then bought a better house (Two more). All that by the time my son was 10. By the time he was 10, my son had lived in nine different homes. We popped a squat for awhile and stayed there for seven years. This year, we sold our house and moved again. I suppose in retrospect, we might seem a bit cuckoo. But really, we're not. We just embrace change.
Several of those moves were based on jobs, another change I like from time to time. In fact, when I left my last job a little over a year ago, I determined I had stayed there longer than any other job I had. Ever. Sure, I had worked different positions within the same place, but never that long in the same place, in the same role. I guess as a fourth grade teacher, there was enough change around me in the students, policies, curriculum, and people that it was enough. But prior to that job, I hadn't stayed in the same job for more than a couple of years. There was a time when career mobility was looked down upon. It was seen as a lack of commitment or loyalty. But for me, moving around a lot was about finding the next experience, the next challenge. As a result, I had already amassed a pretty impressive resume of rich experiences, especially for someone my age. It gave me the comfort and confidence to settle down in the same job for awhile when my son was in elementary/middle school. He was changing enough for the two of us!
A part of me wishes I could slow down and live in the moment more. I really am trying to be more Zen. It's hard when you're always looking ahead to what's next instead of enjoying the now you are in- living in the moment as they say, My friends and family have referred to it as career ADHD. But as I think about the other parts of my personality I think I just like to experience a lot of different things. Once I've gotten what my psyche needs from an experience, I'm ready to be off looking for another one. Part of it is knowing I have given all I can to a job situation, and that it's given all it can back to me. Once I stop growing, I'm moving on. Turn and face the strange, as David Bowie said.
A few things that haven't changed:
My hairstyle- I have had the same few inches below shoulder-length, naturally curly hairstyle for my entire adult life. Except for two brief hiatuses: 1998- I was pregnant and hot and cut too many inches off. You should see the pictures... actually, no you shouldn't. 2008- I cut 9 inches off to donate, leaving it just to my shoulder.
My religion- Born and raised Jewish. Still am.
My husband- High school sweethearts, together for 26 years, married almost 20.
I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them right now.
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