Dear Jessica Brennan,
Have you ever noticed that what you were consumed with worry about a year ago, doesn’t seem like a big deal now?
Even if it was something significant, as time passes, either the situation gets resolved, or we learn to adapt to the new way things are.
When an intimate relationship ends, when a bad deal happens, when catastrophe hits, it feels like the whole world is collapsing, and yet we move on and life gives us new things to celebrate and more things to worry about.
Many times as we work through these times of stress we learn a great deal about life, and about what is important to us. We also learn about what we will never put up with again. As a chronic slow learner, I can tell you from experience, that this, albeit painful can be positive.
It seems to me, that if we look back at our lives we will recognize just how resilient we are. We will see how capable we are of finding ways to fix things that are broken, or at least at finding other things to break. All the while, we continue to discover our new “just fine”. We adapt.
In my experience, after you have fought your best fight, and tried your very hardest, bringing everything you have to a situation, there may come a point where you have to look at what is. What is this new chapter going to be? Then, even if it isn’t what you would have chosen, you must be adept at adapting. You must trust that time will make things okay, and mostly you must believe in your own ability to adapt.
Things lost, things found or found out. Happiness, sadness, fear and betrayal. These don’t just make for a great opera, they also decorate a real life. The key? Do all you can, then adapt to what’s new, because in a long life, there will be a lot of adapting, and a lot of new, and being mostly happy through all of it, is a life well lived.
Love,
Mum xo
