Darwinism and the Job Hunt

Everyone thinks of Darwinism as survival of the fittest - the smartest, fastest, strongest survive while the weak are thrown to the lionesses pursuing the pack. But that isn't really what Darwin said. In fact what he said was:

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

Which is a very different thing. The fastest might outrun the lions and survive today, sure, but long term? It is the one that can adapt to the ever changing environment they live in. My point - and yes I do have one - is that in the current environment, we had all better be able to work with change. Because everything is changing all around us all the time. The way we work, the way we look for work, the way we communicate, the way we spend our leisure hours, the way we do pretty much everything.

The reason I am mulling this over arises from my own metamorphosis from employee to job hunter and possible entrepreneur. I am soaking in change to the point that my fingers are pruney. Normally change is not a big deal for me - I have picked up and moved three times now to new places with no job. I survived. I have been laid off a grand total of 6 times (including my infamous twice in one week incident), I have returned to school after a long hiatus, and I have made forays into foreign countries by myself. And while during the actual events there was some fear and upheaval and doubts, I did just fine.

So hear I sit, rounding out month 3 without a job (I count from the time my severance ended, and don't include my 5 weeks in Europe, because that would seem overly dramatic), working some stuff in the background for self employment and actively job hunting, and it is still a little scary. I know I will survive. Because I can adapt. I can change. That's my mantra for the week. Slightly reminiscent of Clint Eastwood in Heartbreak Ridge, but I will take it.