Evolution vs. Transition

 

I read that evolution was how we crawled out of the water in Africa, learned to stand up and walk and try to stay alive. We adapted on this spinning marble in space to find food, drink and shelter while procreating the next generation.

Our recent evolution could be called our culture. We have no decision to this long-term transformation of height, eye color, hair and weight, yet we evolve to form conformity with similar looking species.

Evolution is the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, resulting in certain characteristics becoming more or less common within a population over successive generations. The process of evolution has given rise to biodiversity at every level of biological organization. Other terms for evolution are Heredity, Mutation, Recombination, Epigenetic, Natural selection, Adaption and Extinction.

 

A transition is a change from one thing to the next, either in action or state of being - as in a job transition or as in the much more dramatic example of a caterpillar making a transition into a butterfly. Other terms for transition are Conversion or Transformation.

The meaning of transition is synonymous with change, move, shift, leap, progression or development. Its definition as a noun is the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another.

Transitioning can be a long and ongoing process, or it can happen over a short period of time. You might try out different things as you learn what’s best for you. The transition process is about becoming more fully you — in body, mind, and relationships. So, people sometimes call transitioning “congruence.”

I’ve been (so far) through the transition of life. The shell I inhabit has stretched and grown without my control.

Yet, much of my transition has been my decision. Choosing clothing, attending classes to find gainful employment, learning to dance, finding a suitable mate and trying to pay the bills without getting into trouble with the authorities. Some of my transitions have not been the best. Other transitions were made through outside influences and events. I’ve transitioned from child to teen to young adult to middle age and now onto senior. I’ve transitioned from student to artist to administrator. I’ve transitioned from single to married to widow. I’ve transitioned from employed to retired.

None of these transitions affected anyone else in my family or ancestry. My body has transformed through the evolution of my species but I’ve not transitioned my gender.

I also have not gotten a tattoo.