Everyday Canvas

Adaptation

“Our ability to adapt is amazing. Our ability to change isn't quite as spectacular.” ~Lisa Lutz How do you feel about her assessment? Do you agree or disagree? Do you have examples to share?

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I don’t know if every single person’s adaptability is as amazing as the quote says. I rather think this changes from human to human.

I know some people who aren’t very good in adapting to new situations; if they were, why would they keep complaining non-stop to anyone they meet in real life or in cyberspace about their present situations? On the other hand, each one of us must have some talent in adaptation or else we would all be nursing and wearing diapers throughout life.

Anyone who has studied any psychology is probably familiar with Jean Piaget’s theory of adaptation, which is the leading component in a child’s ability to learn. Be it a child or adult, adaptation is taking information from the outside world and converting it to one’s own way of being and behaving, and also mentally accepting the new situation and accommodating and reworking his conduct and performance to fit the new information.

Obviously, we all change some, according to circumstance and time and place. When someone sees me years later and says, “You haven’t changed a bit,” I usually feel startled, because I know I always change. Surely, they say that as a compliment, but in its essence, such an utterance is not a compliment at all.

If nothing else changes, the fashion of clothing changes. Don’t we all try to adapt to the new norm, at least to a degree? Among us women, who are still wearing those far-out large tops padded with elephantine shoulder pads? Or among men, who are still wearing Broadway silk hats, suspenders, and Chesterfield coats?

We are always adapting, true. A new baby arrives, and we adapt to his needs. We lose someone dear, and we adapt to his absence. When we move, we adapt to a new house, and sometimes, to a new city, state, or even country.

My husband and I moved from New York to Florida, and we had to adapt to a new climate, new surroundings, and even to new plants and animals. It wasn’t that difficult, but I really wouldn’t want to do it again, possibly because we older people, due to the needs of our worn-out bodies and challenging health, don’t like change all that much. Yet, if we had to, we would probably adapt to a new move or a new place, passably enough.