Letters to Naleli: Evolve
Pronounced nah-lē-dee
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One of the definitions for Evolution according the Merriam-Webster dictionary is: “a process of continuous change from a lower, simpler, or worse to a higher, more complex, or better state”
Change is…the complicated part. It requires a certain kind of resilience and perhaps confidence; a confidence in the solidity of everything you have built, an understanding that you could lose everything as you know it, but also, that you might simply lose the current perspective of things. Sometimes what needs to change is how you see things, how you understand them. Sometimes. But other times, in the era transition moments, change is war, change is the demand for better, it is the complete overhaul of the way things were, it is the requirement for forward momentum, a momentum that does not come without immense effort.
To paraphrase Erik Voorhees from the 151st Bankless Episode:
evolution and change are violent,
they require the dismemberment and tearing apart of tradition, customsThis is alluding to the inevitable pain and bloodshed that comes with being ‘the first one’s out the gate’. We cannot simply remove the current ways of life to replace them with different ones while expecting no retaliation or resistance, we cannot expect entire generations to change everything about how they do life, how they understand humanity, that is a mission doomed to an unending battle of wills. The question is often never ‘should we change’ or ‘do we need to change’, but rather, ‘how do we move with the change such that it does not completely overhaul our current ways of life?’
The answer to that, is a transitory black hole, where anything goes, where mistakes are made, lessons learnt and with them, the momentum required for the forward motion is finally acquired.
It is crazy to think of it now but there was once a time where sending an SMS was a pretty big deal, there was also a time where the phenomenon of commerce was brick & mortar, fairs, markets, but habits and rituals evolved, commerce got, well, digital.
Those of us who create within this frontier know that it could all be moot to some, that we could look like crazy bandits with nothing better to do, but we know, that if we just ignite the match, the fire will burn.
So today and always, I dare you to evolve, to change and become something new. I dare you to step outside of yourself and discover a new possibility, an alternative that you get to curate. I dare you to make yourself proud by trying, and challenging the system itself. To become a catalyst in your arena, the flame that made the match go boom! For far too long, we have continued with the way things were out of obligation, out of tradition or even ease. I want to dare us all to be bold enough to try, to fail and somehow, try again at this new thing; because life as we know it is at stake.
