When we are very young, we are easily bored. We like different experiences, and we like them frequently. When we are adults, we tone down a bit. We learn which experiences are better suited to us, and our personalities. And as we get older, we like comfort and continuity.
Still, whether young or old, most of us go through periods when we want a change. We want something fresh and new. We’ve grown weary of the same old stuff, or maybe, we’ve even grown weary of the same people.
There’s a lot to be said for the ‘tried and true.’ But there’s a lot to be said, too, for change.
And we don’t have to throw the baby out with the bath water.
Part of being creative is looking for a new slant on an old thing–even if the old thing is comfortable, continuous, and—well, brilliant. If we continue day after day, doing, hearing, and seeing, exactly the same thing, it can become stale, flat, and close to unbearable.
If a relationship with a family member or a friend is getting too predictable and bland, we look for ways to revive it–anything that freshens up the scene–a new place to go together, a new project both are interested in, a different way to converse or even to disagree.
Another example might be a piece antique furniture, say a Victorian chair—still comfortable, still beautiful. Except you’ve changed everything else in the room. You don’t want to throw out the chair, but in your eyes, it is becoming stodgy. You might look for a new slant— in a throw, a different place in the room, or even re-upholstery, so you keep the old, but freshen it up.
Freshening up to re-issue is done frequently with pieces of art: painting, sculpture, music, dance, and of course, with old movies.
One more concrete example: Everyone who’s been to a wedding has probably heard Pachelbel’s Cannon in D more times than they’d care to. But you’ve probably never heard it like the following video presents it.
The Cannon is there in all its brilliance, because there is value in the ‘tried and true,’ but a little something new can give it a whole new life.
What do you think of the change? I love it!
Translating a World on the Edge 