Endings

All things end, making room for new, and sometimes better futures in their wake, but while we know this in our minds, our hearts fight ferociously to deny, delay, or alter the inevitable. It is normal to feel nostalgic or sad when we contemplate endings, and natural to try and hold onto the familiar and the comfortable. Change often involves immediate and painful losses even if it results in better outcomes down the road.

Our lives involve a series of endings. We are born and may enjoy a few years of innocence before the realities of adulthood encroach and overtake us. We graduate from preschool, kindergarten, primary school, middle school, and high school, with each rite of passage marking an ending and transition. Throughout our lives, we encounter other endings, some routine, such as changing jobs or moving houses, and some wrenching, like the loss of friends or loved ones. The river of time only flows in one direction, and as it sweeps us along, different points on the riverbank enter into our experience only to disappear around the next bend.

Some of the most difficult endings involve decisions in which it is up to us to end what we are doing now and to choose a different path. Sometimes the choices are easy or obvious, but at other times, the upsides and downsides of different paths are less clear. In those cases, while keeping things as they are might feel like the less risky choice, we still need the courage to end things and move on. Our hand might hesitate as it reaches for the door, knowing that once we step through and close it, there might be no way back, but if we falter and turn away rather than go through, we are diminished.

Anxiety makes it harder to face these difficult choices, be they related to our careers, personal relationships, business ventures, pastimes, or anything else. We look both ways, analyze situations repeatedly, and even when we know the best path ahead, linger till time chooses for us. But, in the end, a door closes behind us whether we walk through it willingly or are pushed by the hand of time, and one way or another, life goes on. We therefore need to accept and embrace endings even as they make us uncomfortable.

When we first went into lockdown, in March of 2020, I started writing weekly articles, just like this, and sharing them in my social media. Now, two and half years and 125 articles later, it’s time to move on. I’ve enjoyed sharing my thoughts and ideas with you and am grateful that you’ve travelled alongside me on this journey through the pandemic. I still hope to continue the conversation, but in other ways. Alas, an ending, and while I feel wistful already, I also know that it’s the right choice for me at this time. I hope my words inspired your thinking and brought you comfort and joy. Thank you for joining me.