The Leopard

Carrying on from where I left off last time, I want to talk about change. Do people really ever change? And if so, why? Why would anyone want to change who they are?

I'm sure you're all familiar with the saying "a leopard never changes its spots". But what does that saying really mean? To me it seems like a pretty poor analogy, of course a leopard never changes its spots. It has no choice in the matter, it is nature. But people have a choice in change. Do I believe that people can change for the better? Of course I do. But do they change for another person? I'm sure many of you out there will claim to have done so, I say bullshit. People change when it suits them. Admittedly, sometimes it does suit them to change for someone, but changing for that person in particular is a lie. Change is all about motivation, some people are more motivated than others, usually in that they're not happy with the track their life is currently embarking upon. It doesn't happen overnight though, it is a gradual process.

Why am I writing about change anyway? Isn't this meant to be a blog about ME? Well yes, but I've noticed some minor changes in a lot of people I know of late, some for better, some for worse. People who have previously been horrible (not proper horrible, banter horrible) have started being nice, and vice versa. Is this a change in personality? The simple answer is no, it's just an adaptation to the situation, whatever the situation may be. Different situations in life bring about different sides to peoples personalities, someone you didn't expect to be sympathetic for example will be, and it makes you think "why can't you be like this all the time?" But it would soon lose its novelty, right? If everyone was nice to you no matter what. Not that I'm using this to justify me behaving like a bellend all the time. But why do some people start behaving differently in a bad sense? Surely we've all been there, you think you're getting along with someone then out of nowhere they change.

"Hang on a minute," you say, "I thought you said changes don't occur overnight?". These cases aren't personality changes, these are just the minor changes that I referred to earlier. But why would people who were nice turn not so nice? The reverse change can be easily justified, but this one not so much. Unless of course you do something wrong then it should be surely obvious. As I fall into the category of the "usually a dickhead, pleasant surprise when nice" category I can't answer why the other change is brought about. As someone who just loves to make people laugh and smile, this phase perplexes me.

Am I the leopard who never changes his spots and just can't see it and justify it with this "adaptation" shit? Answers on a postcard please.

Thanks for reading,

Thomas.