Change

What the heck?  It is one of my favourite songs.  Family tree.  It says, “yesterday does not define you.”  To me, that phrase says so much.
I am not my father or grandfather, but me.  I have traits that are them (I’ve seen them), but I do not believe I need to be a certain way because my ancestors were.  Though a lot of traits that were them, I like having.
I spent a portion of a day recently with my eldest brother.  More and more I see traits in myself and brothers that were traits in dad.  We all tend to be fairly meticulous.  It has to be right. That can be a downer if something we do is not right and we have trouble letting it go when it cannot be changed.  But most of the time I see that trait as a good thing.
We have interests that seem to have been passed down.  No biggy, but we have joked about the ceramic frogs he has in his pot plants where he lives.  They always seem to be watching me.  He said he needed to check his when it was discovered we have a few around the place too.
We also have a few real green tree frogs in our yard.  I have generally discovered them by mistake.  I was moving pots and there was one.  I was tidying our little shed and there was one.  I turned on the light and went to the big shed and there was one.  I saw another around our Broms. (that one had a yellow strip).
The point for me is though there are attributes I like having.  There are others I do not like having and that do me no good.  It is those I want gone.  I really do not think I am stuck with them because that is how dad was.  But if nothing changes then nothing will change.  But it can change.  I live in hope. 
I need to want them to change though.  They never will if I accept the excuse that that is the way I always will be.  If an army has a million fighters and they go to war with a country that has 10,000 they do not send a million men.  They send enough to win.
I don’t use a sledgehammer to break open a nut.  I use a nutcracker.  It does the job.  To me it is the same with things I want to deal with in my life.  I don’t use a sledgehammer for them all.  I use what is appropriate for the task.
I also do not try to do everything at once.  A bit at a time means I consolidate.  Armies often take out infrastructure and communications.  When invading they ensure they can hold something and then move on.  It is not a good look to have a win and leave the place empty.  The place so easily ends us worse than what it was.
It is just the way it is.  To me competition is all about overpowering opposition.  To win I need to know what works, plan, then do something.  It is easy to be an armchair expert.  It is harder to be in the heat of battle.
But I can change.  Or as Yoda would say, “change I can.”  Yesterday does not define me.  What I was, or what I am, does not mean it is the way I will be.  Especially not if I want to change and avail myself of available help.