Are you the same person you were yesterday, probably yes
Are you the same you were 10 years ago? Certainly Not
Is a liar always a liar? a thief always a thief? and a cheat always a cheater?
Or can people really change?
Yes, they can. In fact, it’s hard if not impossible to stay the same as different things in life will make you change let alone development and growth making you change in a couple of ways like the way you perceive things 10 years ago is different from how you perceive them now
You behave differently from how you did 10 years ago but that’s because of growth in your mindset and you stop acting like a child and different experiences as you grow up
And in this case, we are talking of character, personality, behaviors, and attitudes, beliefs which can change from bad to good or good to bad but not body size which keeps on changing
And we don’t logically expect people to have their gender change naturally from a boy to a girl though we can have people change their sexual orientation
How do people change, why do they change and What makes people change
The three are put together because what makes you change is the reason why you change and that impacts on how you change
In this article, we give you 7 instances that show that people are capable of changing in life;
1. Experience can make a person change
Well, this is one of the biggest things that make us change. Most people can’t get into a new relationship because of a bad past experience in their previous relationships that didn’t leave them the same.
So they change their behaviors in the new relationship just to guard themselves against getting the same bad experience again. That would be as good as saying pain makes people change
And a person who keeps moving from one relationship to another can decide to settle in one once they feel they have found the right person based on their instincts which can also be termed as a change in a behavioral pattern. This also shows people can change in relationship
Even failure or success in everyday life can make you change, for example, if a person was once poor and they happen to get rich then their behaviors could change and they become mean, snobby, self-centered with full of self-importance
Trauma also had a negative psychological effect on people can make them change forever
2. Learning new things or facts makes people change
The end result of all true learning is changing in behavior and perception
If you decided to learn something new today the chances are high the information you attain will affect how you behave from there onward.
For example, if you told someone that chocolates contain pieces of cockroaches or even other insects, they may stop eating them immediately. Actually that’s true
Now that’s something that can change a person and they never be the same again after learning the truth
3. Adapting to something new can make people change
This usually works when there is a change in schedule or routine. People can change themselves to suit the current schedule in their lives for example if your where made a leader, you would want to alter your behavior to be good so that you can be exemplary to the people you lead
4. Wanting to change
This is the easiest way people change. Take for instance someone has been over drinking and they realize that actually they are spending a lot of money on beer and they need to do something about it or else their finances could get worse
Well that’s one situation where people do actually change because they know the implications that will occur if they do change their behavioral patterns
5. Fearing something
Well people can change due to fear of something say if you are a student and you know you will be chased away from school if you failed your end of year exams, then that’s likely to make you change in your routine and behavior or character and become a hard worker so that you are not kicked out
The problem with this kind of change is most times it’s temporary as, if a person is done with exams in the example above they will resort back to their past behaviors
6. Wanting to attain something
This the opposite of change because of fear based on the example above. People are motivated by fear or gain and in this instance, someone’s behavioral change will be motivated by what they want to attain
Take for instance someone wants to stand for a leadership post, they will start to make new friends, help others and you would notice a lot of change in their behaviors
Well for a start they clearly know that they won’t attain that position with a bad character or personality so they will have to change
Or another example is some people can pretend to have a certain character so that they can lure someone into a relationship and after a while when their goal is achieved, they revert to their true colors
And again the same problem of a temporary change in behavior comes back as the person may go back to their previous behaviors when the desired goal is achieved
7. People change based on place, what they are doing and who they are with
People don’t really have a fixed personality, character or behavior
If you are with a person you dislike you are likely to be rude and if you are with a person you like, you are likely to be caring then that would be changing based on who you are with
If you hate school you could show signs of laziness because you hate schooling activities but if you are playing your favorite sport you could show some determination and hard work now that’s change based on what you are doing
When you are at a public conference gathering for your work, you could display a different personality that suits the occasion while you show a different personality whilst you are at your home now that’s change basing on where you are
Conclusion
People can change their personalities or characters and capable of changing anything about themselves if they wanted to
And just as much as people can change themselves, they can also be changed too. The is usually done in health facilities that are helping people with addictions or at correction centers
But there is no fixed time frame for people to change as a couple of factors come into play like what is a person changing about themselves, how they are doing it, when are they doing it and why they are doing it