Yesterday I heard an expression that really struck me. I don’t know to whom to accredit it. Here it is, “blessed are they who are flexible, for they will not get bent out of shape.” Immediately one gets the gist; be open to the new and to change, or else one will struggle.
Unpacking this expression first, what does flexible mean? What are its attributes? I looked up a definition of flexible (Random House, Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary), “1. capable of being bent, usually without breaking… 2. susceptible of modification or adaptation… 3. willing or disposed to yield, pliable, a flexible personality.” The writer(s) of the definition seemed to have the above expression in mind in their descriptive words, capable of being bent, pliable, and a flexible personality. What this definition cannot illuminate is the underlying aspects of a personality that support someone being flexible.
I also recently heard someone say that we should experience each day as the last day, or put another way, the only day that will be like this particular day. It will never be repeated. I think that gets to the attributes of being flexible, seeing what is now and being open to that. It does not mean swallowing whole something new, it does mean to be open to understanding and considering it.
My take on the expression “bent out of shape” is that it is usually used for someone who is upset or angry about a changed situation, a new color for the exterior of the town hall or new policies for landlords, for example. It implies that someone is, for some reason, invested with a certain way things have been but now have changed. The desire is for the return to the way things were.
Putting the two back together, the expression challenges us to acknowledge that each day is a new day, that change is inevitable, that we need to examine any automatic response to resist or condemn a change, and finally, that we be willing to understand and be open to the new.