Everything Changes When You See “Change” As a Verb

Our relationship with change is directly linked to whether we consider “change” a noun or a verb.

Pic by Phoebe Dill

Change, no pun intended, is a very volatile word. Ask people how they feel about change and, normally, you’ll get very polarizing answers: from very exciting to frightening.

“Change”, by definition, can be both a noun and a verb. My hope is not to start a grammar conversation but help you understand how the way we use words impact our behavior. And, when it comes to change, this is more evident.

Through years of observation, I learned that people’s relationship with change is directly linked to whether they consider “change” as a verb or as a noun. Which is to you?

Our Obsession With Change

Are we obsessed with change? In order to address this question, I run some numbers on Google. We all know we have an obsession with pets: from humanizing dogs in a bizarre way to cats playing keyboards, we have a fascination with animals on the Internet. Surprisingly enough, the amount of searches on the word “change” overshadows those on “pets”. Same happens with “2016 elections” eve…