“If the Wind Changes, You’ll Stay Like That”

Remember hearing that sometimes-convincing warning from your mother or father? “Be careful — if the wind changes, you’ll stay like that!”

Caught in the Moment: Embracing Playful Expressions Before the Winds of Change.

Remember wondering if it might actually be true — that you could end up frozen with your tongue hanging out or your eyes crossed forever? It was funny, a little scary, and it stuck with us.

The truth is, for many of us, the wind did change — not in the silly-face way, but in ways that feel just as permanent. Maybe it’s a few stubborn rolls around the middle that never seem to shift. Maybe it’s skin flare-ups that flare no matter what cream you buy. Maybe it’s the deep grooves of stress etched into your forehead. Or the tension in your jaw. Or the exhaustion that feels like your new normal.

Somewhere along the way, the little habits, stresses, and shortcuts we once thought were harmless set like wet cement. The face we pulled in life did stick.

Habits Shape Us More Than We Realise

Our bodies are wonderfully adaptive — and that’s both a blessing and a challenge. Hours hunched over a screen mould the spine into a slump. Constant stress trains the nervous system to believe chaos is normal. Too much processed food convinces metabolism to live on highs and crashes.

Like a child holding a silly expression just a moment too long, our repeated choices eventually settle into something harder to undo. That’s not a reason to despair — it’s a reminder that we are always shaping ourselves, even when we’re not aware of it.

Before the Cement Fully Sets

Here’s the hopeful part: cement doesn’t harden instantly, and neither do we. Just like we could always drop the cross-eyed look before the “wind changed,” we can still shift direction before habits set in stone.

• Swap long hours of sitting for small but consistent strength and movement.

• Trade constant busyness for rhythms of rest, reflection, and prayer.

• Replace fake, packaged foods with the simple, nourishing ones your grandparents would still recognise.

It’s rarely about a dramatic overhaul. It’s about small course corrections, repeated over time. They matter more than you think.

The Winds of Culture

Of course, it’s not just our own habits that shape us — it’s the “wind” itself. And in today’s world, culture is gusty. One moment it blows us towards detox teas and meal replacements, the next towards endless snacking “solutions” in shiny packets.

If we let the wind dictate our shape, we’ll end up bent and brittle, chasing fads that leave us no stronger. But if we anchor ourselves in what’s timeless — real food, good movement, peace, faith — we won’t be tossed around every time a new gust blows through.

Instead, we’ll be rooted, steady, and resilient, regardless of which way the wind is blowing.

Discovering Happiness in Daily experiences Welcoming silliness and happiness can change our everyday lives.

The Humour in It All

And maybe it’s worth keeping the humour, too. Because imagine if every silly face we pulled as children had stuck. We’d have classrooms full of wide-eyed, tongue-out adults — and perhaps a world that took itself a little less seriously.

The truth is, many of us are already stuck with faces shaped not by laughter, but by stress. The frown of worry. The clenched jaw of holding it together. The tired eyes of sleepless nights.

Maybe it’s time to pull a new face. To soften, to smile, to laugh more. Because joy, held long enough, reshapes us just as much as stress does.

Final Word

Embracing joy with silly faces on a sunny day together

“Be careful — if the wind changes, you’ll stay like that.”

Perhaps our parents were wiser than they knew. Because the wind does change — in life, in health, in culture. And if we aren’t mindful, we’ll find ourselves stuck in shapes we never intended.

So choose carefully. Let your face — your posture, your habits, your life — be set towards strength, joy, nourishment, and peace. Then, when the wind changes, as it always will, it will find you already smiling, already rooted, already becoming who you were created to be.

With Love

Frankie x