I bought a mattress topper a few weeks ago.

I hadn’t been sleeping well for months. So I bought new pillows and changed sleeping position. I got a hard mattress and even contemplated changing it to a spring one. Then I traveled and slept on a mattress topper for the first time. I slept so well and so I bought one.

I got home, set the mattress topper up but slept badly the next 2 nights. “What could be wrong, this time?”, I thought. Two things, it turned out. Firstly, the topper was slightly smaller than my mattress and tapered off around the edges. So my decades long practice of sleeping on a particular side of the bed meant I was napping in a lopsided position. I needed to relocate to the centre of the bed to have a more even sleeping experience. Secondly, my bed was now higher and somehow my existing pillow no longer worked. I needed a thicker memory pillow.

The experience taught me that change usually leads to even more change. Many times, 2 or 3 related changes are required before you can gain the full benefit of the first change. For instance, you start a new relationship and realise you need to cut back on work hours or learn to write love notes. You move to a new place and realise you need a crash course in D.I.Y (do-it-yourself) skills. Supplementary changes are needed to make the first change work.

I think if life ever revealed all the things that need to change in our lives as a result of an initial change, we would never change. I’m glad to be kept in the dark. It makes risk-taking a whole lot easier.