A Different Dawn

         If I lay here

                    If I just lay here                                  

                       Would you lie with me 

                                      And just forget the world?

                                                                    - 'Chasing Cars', Snow Patrol

Today I’m talking about endings.

We all have things we truly care about. Hopes, dreams, places, people. We look to them for comfort, reassurance, stability. For light, when all we can see is darkness. Is it any wonder that they come to mean so much?

That these are the people we love?

So we hold on to them, for as long as we possibly can. We hold on to hope. To the idea of them always in our lives. We want to believe in the stories we tell ourselves, about dragons slain and demons conquered. Because reality can be cruel.  Sometimes hope isn’t enough.

Sometimes dreams die.

Because that’s all they ever were. You wake up to a colder, clearer dawn. And you know things can never go back to the way they used to be.

But maybe they were never meant to be that way.

The author, Najwa Zebian, talks about building our homes in places not meant for us, in the hearts of others. When they leave we feel bereft because we built our lives around them. We need them like no one else. But in the end, the only people we truly have are ourselves.

The sun always rises. It’s the only thing we’re ever guaranteed. The world changes, people come and go, but the sun will always set on one day and rise on another. We can never go back, but we can move forwards. We can pursue new goals, new experiences, spend time on what really matters. We can build on what came before. We can find someone new. We can be our own light in the darkness.

As painful as they are, every ending is also a new beginning. Grieve for the end, but look for the dawn.

Even though you know a part of you will always remember the sunset.