AUGUST 15, 2023

PEYTON JANE GIBSON

“The only thing constant in life is change.” Or is it death and taxes? Either way, I’ve always hated the saying. Of course “change is constant”. That was physically, viscerally obvious to me since I was old enough to sit down and memorize our new phone numbers and addresses with my mom every other year.

I was reliving my life story to yet another therapist (because… change) who wrapped up our session by telling me that “we need to work on finding you stability in all the motion”.

My reaction to her adage? What. the. fuck. lady. I want to be motionless. I want out of the moving car. I am ready to hurl myself out, tuck and roll, if it means I can just. be. still.

I called a friend to complain about this apparently out-of-her-wits “mental health professional”. Why couldn’t she understand that all I wanted was to stop? Settle down, get married, have kids, buy a house, and never ever learn a new address for the rest of my life ever again.

After quietly listening to the assault against this well-meaning woman, my friend paused for a moment and thoughtfully responded, “Peyton, I would sit with what she had to say for a little longer. She’s not entirely wrong, after all; the only thing constant in life is change”.