Have you ever been in a situation where you know what your life will be like for the next six months, but you don’t know what it will be like in the next six? 

That’s the situation I find myself in at the moment.  Right now I am living and working in a reality that will change dramatically in less than four months.  My family and my life will be uprooted, and we will be in limbo for another month before we find ourselves in a completely new reality.  From one continent to another, one country to another, one culture to another.  It’s really quite surreal, actually, as if you’re being pulled out of one dream (or for some, a nightmare) and dropped into another.  Virtually everything that I know now will be a memory in a matter of months.  Some will be good memories, some not so good.  The home I live in will change.  Neighbors, friends, and colleagues will be different.  And although the Internet allows those I know now to stay in touch, many of us will never cross paths again.

I ponder sometimes what life will be like six months from now in a new location, new environment, even a new career.  The only constant will be my loving family and my God.  They are the only continuity this life brings.   Nevertheless, I am looking forward to a change.  I am wary of the unexpected and unsure of what to expect in our next life, but I have created an image in my mind of what I think life will be like in the near future.  Take this blog for instance.  As life is now I only have time to post new entries once a week or twice if I’m lucky.  Yet the site is a bit staid because I don’t have time to upload photos or media that would make this page more attractive and attract more readers.  In six months, I will be able to make this blog more interesting than it is now, and perhaps it will return to the days when hundreds, even thousands read this blog each day. 

But what am I giving up by changing realities?  A lot, really.  There are things I’m doing now that I won’t be able to do in six months.  The question is whether the trade-off is a positive step or something I will learn to regret.  The answer I do not yet know, and it lies in our new reality.

Many of my friends and colleagues face similar situations every year or two years.  Somehow, most of us manage to cope with the change.  While it seems attractive to change your reality — especially if you dislike the one you’re in now — there’s something to be said about stability and continuity.  That’s something few can afford in this life.