The Ending…and The Beginning
“Every ending is a doorway to a new beginning, where possibilities bloom and resilience finds its strength.”
Image Credit @hebaalwahsh99
So much has been said and written about endings and new beginnings. Is there anything more to say? I think about it a lot. With age and experience, endings occur more frequently, often occurring simultaneously. But even one ending can be overwhelming.
I think about walking into a doctor's office feeling healthy and fit and walking out feeling shocked and maybe even physically ill and emotionally off-balance. One’s daily routine becomes upended, and thoughts and conversations center on scheduling, side effects, and limitations. It's a life-changing event.
I think about having a career chock-full of purpose, activity, and importance. Suddenly, that's no longer the reality due to a change in a job description, being "RIF'ed," fired, or retiring. Familiar routines don’t exist. Days feel interminably long. There’s no longer a “to-do” list. It's a life-changing event.
I think of children leaving home…for college, the military, world travel, or to get their own apartment across town. Years were devoted to driving and being present for every imaginable activity. The roles of chauffeur, tutor, cook, housekeeper, nurse, cheerleader, and daily advisor are gone. It's very quiet now. It's a life-changing event.
I think of parents who are no longer here on earth... the people who were our guides and who shaped who we are. No longer can a call be made for a recipe or a call to discuss the baseball scores and who has been traded. A connection to one’s past is missing because they were the ones who knew the history and the stories. And suddenly, it seems, we're expected to be the adults in the room. It’s a sobering thought, and it's a life-changing event.
I think of important relationships that included shared interests, activities, and values, and a bond that seemed unbreakable, but the bond broke over something silly or over a core value. Either way, the result is sadness. It's a life-changing event.
I think of one's life partner, the one who changed the trajectory of your life...the one who can never be replaced. Life stands still for a time. A weighty sense of loss, intense loneliness, and gut-wrenching ache quickly replace the hours that were filled with happiness, comfortable silence, and contentment with life. The vacuum is wide and deep. It's a life-changing event.
So many endings, but are endings the end? It may seem so at the time. Endings are often painful. Losing the security of health and feeling betrayed by one’s body, losing one’s professional identity, and often one’s sense of self, losing the “dailiness” of connection with children, parents, a best friend, and partner leaves a seemingly unfillable hole. Life will never be the same. But that is life.
Believing the end is the end is not unusual, but that belief leads to stagnation and despair. It takes time to even consider the possibility of beginning again. Beginnings often happen slowly, quietly, unnoticed, and when least expected. They can be scary and sometimes unwelcome. But if we dare to look, doors can open, offering new possibilities and experiences, opportunities for growth, insight, and friendship. We can discover a resilience within us that has gone untapped. Because endings and beginnings happen…that is life.
Leave feedback for the author here. (Comments are not posted online.)