Every Beginning Also Has An End
Work ends, love ends, existence comes to an end, because sooner or later everything comes to an end. Everything in life is temporary and the fact that expecting things to be “eternal” usually causes us great frustrations that are hard to get over.
We need to know how to decide the perspectives on our lives that have come to an end. Forcing these situations to survive when they are already dying or have already died is like crying over spilled milk.
Nothing lasts forever, everything has an end
What happens to large areas of life (dreams, reason, love, etc.) is also reflected in small areas (material wealth, beauty, reputation) that also have an end. Both big and small things end because everything in life is “borrowed” and it has an end.
Even materialistic objects, once they have fulfilled their function, often make us discouraged or even angry, which is the complete opposite of what they produced when they were new. This is perhaps because we give them an everlasting character. We treat them as if they are a part of our lives or even a part of our own body.
When we go to a plastic surgeon to cover our real age or if we play sports for many hours, not for the sake of health but to stay young, we drop into a fantasy of an impossible dream, impossible desires and unnecessary reasons.
Because instead of improving our own physical appearance (which is often impossible) we diminish our own worth and our humanity. We become something like a product that is sold, exchanged and marketed to satisfy others.
If something can become more sustainable but not eternal, they are material and profound realities.
“No one knows what he has until he loses it”
Many times we complain and reject a person or situation until those people are no longer near us or have even died, or those situations that were originally already negative have become even worse. Comparison is what gives us a real insight into what makes us suffer and puts the level of our suffering on the right scale.
For example, when you constantly complain about your spouse and then end up single again, you even start to appreciate all the little things in that person. Or when you move out of a modest house that is full of warmth, to live in a bigger house that doesn’t have the same homely feel, though. As well as if you complain of a common flu until you get sick of something much more serious.
When it all starts, it most often has an aura of novelty charm that is full of hopeful promises. But over time, we begin to see more mistakes than good, in things, in people, and in situations. When these situations then end or disappear, the opposite emerges: we focus more on good things and minimize mistakes.
Accepting things as such has great merit
Even by accepting and assuming that everything that has a beginning is also an end, we will avoid more than one problem. This is not to say that we should dive into despair and drop into cynicism. It just means that we need to know that there will come a time when we have to say goodbye.
Loss and grief are permanent in our lives. Throughout our existence, we have to say many times to people, situations, or loved ones. Everything is temporary, nothing lasts forever, not even our own lives. We all know this, but still we create the same fantasy of eternity over and over again.
Not being able to break free, not being able to say goodbye, or not being able to decide to quit something can be quite problematic. Just like the opposite of it: never commit to anything for fear of losing it. Maybe if we learn to see the fact that everything is going to end much more naturally, we will enjoy more of what is around us here and now instead of missing everything when it’s already gone.
