We love the idea of a straight line; start at one point and end at another. It’s how we think of narratives. Just like we also think of beginnings as exciting, and endings as a cause for sadness.
As much as beginnings lead to endings, so do endings lead to new beginnings. But the latter is much harder to accept. Even positive transitions can feel difficult, because beginning a new phase means something old has to die, something has to be let go. This is why we created rituals and ceremonies, like bar mitzvahs, graduations, and weddings, to help us say goodbye and welcome what’s to come next.
Even so, watching things end can be difficult. But what’s even more difficult? When things end and you didn’t get a say in it.
Within the course of your own life, pieces of you will die off. There will be seasons of life you will have to weather before you’ve truly let go of the season that came before. Relationships will end. Jobs will be lost. And there may not be a ritual, a dance, or a ceremony to guide you through. You may not have a chance to say goodbye.
Eventually, if you’re able to accept it and make peace with it, something else will take its place. It may or may not be better. And as much as you may want the point of it all to be better, to give you meaning, the point is to learn to let go. Why? Because with as many loops and twists that come our way, letting go is the only way we can prove that we accept the impermanence of life, so we may live it.
This acceptance can be the work of a lifetime, and the road may not be anything like you imagined, nor anywhere close to a straight line. But it is yours to travel on. At times it will be be filled with darkness, but it is acceptance that will carry you through, it is acceptance that will widen the cracks so peace can make its way in, and it is acceptance that is the prelude to light.
Photo by Luca Micheli on Unsplash
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