Five Years

I recently got a haircut. My barber is about the same age as me and I've remained loyal to his gifted hands since 2020. It dawned on me, as he trimmed my hair, that we've known each other for five years.

Five years.

And as I sat there with no choice but to stare at my reflection in the mirror, it occurred to me that in those five years it seemed that neither of us nor our lives had changed in any significant way. We still discuss the same topics, complain about the same small inconveniences of being human, and even maintain the same strange balance of distance and familiarity as when we first met five years ago–saying we ought to hang out sometime, yet never making plans.

This terrified me.

But it made me realize something important: without deliberate and consistent effort, people do not change. And many people do not care to change, nor does the thought even cross their mind that they should care about change.

For those who find themselves in a barbershop staring questioningly in the mirror with the realization that five years have passed without changing in any meaningful way, do not let yourself slip into existential dread. One of the most pernicious thoughts a person can think is that it is too late to change. It isn't.

So what should we do, then?

Well, that's something I will answer another day.

But for now, ask yourself: how can I prove that I have free will today?

When I ask myself that question, I find I take actions that lead to microfractures in the chains of thought patterns and habits that have kept me bound for years.

To be continued…