Chai Time Ruminations

I recollect this conversation between Lexie, Mark and Meredith on Grey’s Anatomy S17 E10:Breathe that made me contemplate on how it could be pointless to resisting growth alongside change and expecting a pain-free life.

Lexie: “The depth of grief that you felt with all the losses, it’s because of the depth of love.As long as you’re alive,you get to feel it and you get to do something about it. Everything changes all the time when you’re alive. And all the time, you fight the change. You cling onto what you have and what you know, like that’s how it should always be.”

Mark: “Such a waste of life.”

Lexie: “Right!”

Meredith: “What’s a waste?”

Mark: “Fighting change.”

Lexie: “Resisting pain.”

Meredith: “I miss you both so much.”

Lexie: “That’s kind of a waste of time too.”

Meredith: “Why?”

Lexie: “Because…. We never left you.”

Mark: “Sometimes we’re right next to you, yelling in your ear.”

Meredith:(laughs)

Lexie: “Don’t waste it, Meredith.”

Meredith: “Waste what?”

Mark: “Don’t waste one single minute.”

It struck a chord with me, especially when Mark and Lexie say how it’s a waste of life to fight change and resist pain. 

Change is always happening, and it can hurt. But sometimes, it also brings good things. Often, when we fight against change, we actually cause ourselves more trouble than if we just accepted it and found a way to grow with it. Maybe it’s because we’re scared of a new life we don’t know anything about, or if it will be good. But refusing to accept change won’t make things go back to how they were.

Trying to avoid the pain of change can make us lose out on a lot more good things than we might gain, all because we’re trying to escape discomfort.

Life has always surprised me. There’s new beginnings, and there are endings. There’s happiness, and there’s sadness. Maybe it’s just a waste of energy to fight against pain and resist change.