In only a few short few weeks into this New Year, I’ve witnessed people near and dear experience difficult endings and joyous beginnings. One friend began the unraveling of a nine-year marriage while another her romantic partnership of several years. A colleague and friend with whom I’ve worked for more than a decade is preparing for a new life as the result of an unexpected early retirement. Another dear friend and her husband welcomed the birth of their baby boy a month early.
There naturally comes a sense of loss when we find ourselves at the end of something of which we are an intimate part, whether it’s a relationship, a job, a lifestyle to which we’d become accustomed, or whatever the case may be.
Yet every ending offers a new beginning if we choose to embrace a seemingly closed door for the entrée it offers to something more and even greater than what we knew.
A closed door can shut us in and hold us back if we allow but it’s also a dual invitation to closure and new, open doors that lead to even greater things.
When we find ourselves behind a closed door, we have the power to walk through that door to the countless open doors that await. The power resides in our choice of on which side of the door we’ll choose to live.
Even better things that we can’t yet imagine aren’t visible from behind the closed door because they’re on the other side. We have to move beyond the closed door to make ourselves available to all that awaits.
The next time you feel penned in by a closed door, step back and think about the endless possibilities that beckon on the other side.
Take time to honor the closed door if needed, to stay temporarily within the container of loss to grieve and achieve closure, but then choose to step on through.
It is only through letting go of one thing that we create space for other, even greater things to come into our lives.
