Living for the future

Nothing stays the same. We are either moving forward or backward. It is impossible to stay in one place, or remain at status quo. I learned this (or something like it) somewhere in college in a psychology, or maybe a philosophy class. It struck me enough to remember it, but I didn’t understand it then as I do now some decades later. It seems that those individuals or organizations who are healthy are looking toward the future. Those that are longing for the past and trying to live in it are less fulfilled and happy.

I’ve been reminded of this fact often in my life, especially when getting ready for a move. As a military family, whenever we had a permanent change of station (PCS), we most times knew for many months that it was coming. During those months of waiting and preparing I experienced increased alienation from my friends. While they were living in the present, their conversation was most often about what was to come. It amazed me how most interaction was about tomorrow. I, on the other hand, had no future there and interaction was meaningless. By the time the movers came to pack our household goods I was usually all but alone, as my friends had moved away from me as I retreated from them.

Once again I find myself in that situation as indeterminate changes in life are threatening. I know that the comfortable though progressive situation I’ve been in is changing direction and bittersweet though it is, circumstances have gone so far that they cannot return to where they once were.

Organizations are like that. We wax nostalgic for the library of our youth – the single high-ceilinged room in the small town with hardwood floors that creaked. The place where my 3-digit library card number would get me a trip to wherever any of the hundreds of books would take me. Libraries have moved forward at breakneck speed, lifted and pushed by the waves of technology and the insatiable desires of customers to have it all, whenever and wherever they want it.

We, as a profession, are changing and mostly moving forward. Libraries as institutions are molding and generally moving forward. Those that are not are being sucked in the undercurrent of waves and will surely drown. Change happens. It’s fun when we ride the waves. It’s terrifying when we resist and spiral downward.