Cents and Sensibility: adaptation.

Yesterday it was my birthday

I hung one more year on the line

I should be depressed, 

my life's a mess

but I'm having a good time.

Paul Simon

I turned 49 the other day.

Ah, the passage of time. So fickle and fast.

Regardless of my incredulity at being almost 50, I decided the minute my alarm clock went off on my birthday that I was going to have a great day, whether I wanted to or not.

And I did. I had a great day.

There are so many reasons why I should have been filled with ennui. My kid turned 18 the other day, and he'll be going away to college in a few months. I've had to grapple with the concept of being old enough to have a kid who's old enough to vote. And I'm adapting to the idea of him going off to college.

My relationship with Mr. Fabulous seems to have ended. There's very little that feels fabulous about that.

And yet, as I mentioned in an earlier blog (http://paradigmthrift.blogspot.com/2011/04/taking-peek-at-happy.html), I've been enveloped with a sense of calm, regardless of how quickly or harshly I've been compelled to adapt lately.

It's true that milestones like birthdays and life changes have a tendency to compel a certain level of introspection. And I've definitely given myself full range of motion when it comes to taking a peek at the present as it relates to the past and the future.

But as I've learned lately, it's all about adapting to what's happening right now.

Adaptation. It's essentially all about how we function when we stare into the face of change.

Adaptation is everywhere.

I did a bit of digging, and learned that it's not just me who needs to constantly learn to adapt.

The need to adapt to change seems to be essential when it comes to just about everything.

There's environmental adaptation, which translates into climate change.

Before we identified the concept of climate change, the lovely Florence Nightingale developed a theory of environmental adaptation that's become a standard way to look at caregiving.

There's biological adaptation, which is a process that compels organisms to change in order to fit into a changing environment.

Evolution.

And there's economic adaptation, which we've all had to learn lately.

Economic adaptation assumes that consumers will modify spending based on real or perceived economic conditions. They'll choose the practical over the frivolous. They'll eschew high quality, expensive products for lower quality, cheaper items, in order to adapt to their economic situation.

Highly relatable lately.

And that reminds me of the last thing I blogged about; how low-end products are experiencing record profits.

At any rate, we all do what we can to adapt to changing times.

I'll have to adapt even more than I have recently, starting June 1. I'll have to go from blogging once a week or so to cranking out the copy every day, once Cents and Sensibility starts (http://paradigmthrift.blogspot.com/2011/03/cents-and-sensibility-preview-laying.html).

Some things are more pleasant to adapt to than others.

So God bless the goods we was given

And God bless the U S of A

And God bless our standard of livin'

Let's keep it that way

And we'll all have a good time.