Earthquakes and Glaciers

One of my favorite things about travel is the types of landscapes you get to see.

Stuff like this.

http://www.instagram.com/p/tyBptgTFmq/?taken-by=joelrunyon

And this.

http://www.instagram.com/p/6JPd02zFl0/

And this.

http://www.instagram.com/p/2dNoHWTFuO/

If you look at the ways that these landscapes come to be, there are a couple of different forces that come into play.

One is earthquakes: every now and then, a major earthquake will hit. It shifts landscape, rivers, cliffs and in the span of an hour, one landscape can be completely changed.

The other is glaciers. They work differently. They move very slowly and make very little change in a year, much less a day. Instead, they use time as the multiplier, making almost imperceptible change every day, over the course of hundreds of thousands of years.

Earthquakes tend to have localized consequences almost instantly. They’ll change a specific land feature, a few blocks or on occasion, a whole city in the span of a few hours.

Glaciers change the look of continents. Over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, they slowly and patiently move hundreds of miles and smooth out the sections they traverse, bringing key features with them.

When you’re making changes in your life – especially drastic ones – one of my favorite ways to overhaul a small area of your life is through earthquakes. Move across the country – change EVERYTHING and go all in. You’ll be sure to shake up a bunch of stuff, especially in a specific area of life.

However, if you zoom out and look at your life on a larger scale, the small earthquakes are less noticeable. Instead, the larger factor is the glacier – the small, almost unnoticeable things you do every day – that shape your daily habits and your life.

There’s nothing wrong with either. An earthquake can make lasting changes happen in a short period of time, but it probably won’t change every facet of your life. A glacier can build the long term habits but probably won’t do it quickly or get you out of a rut you’re stuck in.

Whatever route you choose is fine – just don’t be upset with glacial progress if you need an earthquake (and vice versa).