Homeomorphism
A transformation that changes the shape without changing what something fundamentally is.
I first came across this word during my university topology course. If you’re interested in its formal mathematical definition, you can find it in the references below.
At first, it was simply another term I needed to learn to pass the course. But the more I reflected on it, the more it began to mean something entirely different to me.
It reshaped the way I think about change.
It reminds me that change doesn’t always mean becoming someone else.
Sometimes you remain the same person, only stretched by different experiences.
Not every change is a loss of identity.