Where did it all go?

The expression, you never know how good you had it until it’s gone, is one of those cliche sayings that proves itself time and time again in the cycle of my life. It’s funny how many of us – especially in my case – go through periods of life where first we wish things were different, and then when they are, we wish they were like it was when we wished things were different. As people we’re constantly gazing over the fence looking at stars over grassy fields, thinking that our present circumstances make us hard done by. Many of us seem to live in this eternal state of always looking ahead, but never really appreciating where we are right now.

I recently had a pretty shift in circumstances in my life, and everything is different from what it was two months ago. And now I really appreciate where I was back then, and how good things were. If I could, I’d wave a magic wand and I’d go back there. But of course, I can’t so I don’t bother thinking like this for more than a fleeting moment. What I do find though is that this allows me to reflect quite deeply on what I really want, and what’s important to me.

This process of self reflection is quite valuable in that it allows me to see what it is I really want out of life. And for that, I’m thankful, because then I can structure my life to follow this goal. So perhaps it’s not the worst thing in the world to have your circumstances change and you end up in a worse place than before. The worst thing about being in a worse place is that you don’t see a way out of it.

To some extent I think that we as people all have to experience good and bad, to understand the difference between the two. That’s the philosophy behind many eastern religions that talk about enlightenment. You live; you experience good stuff; you experience bad stuff; you learn; you grow. Without believing in any of this though, by the time most of us become adults we have experienced some form of emotional heartache and heartbreak to know that we only really grow as people during these periods. It’s the suffering that defines us because we’re forced to dig deep inside to evolve and change our circumstances for the better.

So tomorrow I’ll wake up and I’ll reluctantly go to the place I’m supposed to be, but at the same time I’ll remember that because of this circumstance, the next change will be going somewhere better because I know what it is I want.

Andy.

The Where did it all go? by Mentalechoes, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.