May 13, 2013

On Changes, Kellogg's, and iPads

Kellogg's changed Special K for the first time in 30 years, and to commemorate this moment they decided to have a celebration of change in the BritMums/Special K “How I’ve changed Linky challenge”, and have us look at how we've changed in the past 30 years.
I usually don't really like this kind of competitions, even if they do give me the option to win an iPad, but I liked the question - Am I, like the new Special K, updating?
Well, the new Special K promotes healthy eating, with its 3 grains (rice, wheat and barley), vitamines, fibers and wholegrain. I don't.
The new Special K is crunchy. I'm not.
The new Special K is sweet. So am I. Sometimes.
The new Special K feels new and fresh. I feel old and grumpy.
#specialk30
The thing is, they sent it two weeks before my birthday. Not a good time for me to reflect on where my life took me in the last 30 years. 
Do people even change? I don't think so. I know that's not what the Kellogg's people want to hear and I know it will probably won't win me the competition (bye-bye imaginary iPad), but no. People don't change. I haven't changed much in the last 30 years, and I don't expect to change much in the next 30 years. I mean, I even have almost the same haircut for God sake! 
me!
and me!


Yes, I no longer wear nappies, I finished nursery, and school, and university. I have kids older than I was in that photo. I'm taller. I live in a different country. I can read.
And yet, as every single person who knows me will be quick to point out, I haven't change one tiny bit.  Because people don't change. And because I behave like a child more times than I care to admit. And also because I have good genes and not even one wrinkle.
I still like 80's music, I still think chocolate is a legitimate food-group, I still cry really easily, my favourite book is still The Lord of The Rings, and my favourite movie is still Die Hard 1. I still find it hard to stop while I'm in the middle of a book, and to do as I'm asked.
In the last 30 years the world around me changed - I grew up without a cell-phone, multi-channels TV, internet, DVD, iPads, Nintendo, WII, and everything else my kids now take for granted.
In the last 30 years I moved 10 times and lived in 3 countries.
In the last 30 years I stopped wearing baggy clothes and started wearing tighter clothes, I went through the "only black" phase and I went through the "only trousers" phase, my hair was blond, brown, red, black, and with highlights, it was short, medium and very long.
I still have my first haircut hair.
In the last 30 years I was fat, I was thin, I was pregnant, I was somewhere in the middle.
In the last 30 years I had big dreams, I had big plans.
In the last 30 years I learned, again and again, that people don't change.
I mean, have you ever seen anyone who just magically changed? Some cheap bastard who turned into a generous soul? Some dumb as a shoe who suddenly became sharp as a wink? Some asshole who magically became an angel?
No.
Because people don't change. You can change your hair, you can change the way you look, you can change your weight; you grow old, you might even grow up, you can learn along the way how to hide some things so people will think you changed. But the truth is, no one ever changes their essence. . The few and far between people who change work really really hard on it. They go to therapy, they try, they sometimes fail. And they say "I was wrong before".
In the last 30 years I turned from a child to an adult, but that child is still here. I see her everyday when I look in the mirror, I see her everyday when I look at my kids.
Me (and mum)
and Yon

Kids are the perfect example for not changing. My kids' personalities were evidential when they were in the womb. Don't believe me? both were stubborn as hell and never budged when the doctor asked. No matter how many times the doctors tried to make them turn, or move or sit still, they did what they wanted. Ron couldn't wait to get out. Yon really didn't want to leave. Both were totally unaffected by chocolate and sugars.
It's weird how our whole personality is determined when we are so young. Weird and a little bit frightening.
So dear Kellogg's people, as you can see, I really haven't changed. I still can't answer a simple question.

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