Books. Meals. Walks. Trips. Lines. Songs. Stories. Seasons. School years. They all have a beginning, which means they also all have an end. With the end of the school year upon us, the end seems to be on everyone's mind. We anticipate the end even though we know soon enough, there will be another beginning. Why? Does anything ever really end, or do some things just have longer breaks than others?
There's something about the end that ropes in all of us. We work harder to get to the end quicker. We work harder to get the best end result. And then we promise ourselves at the end that we will just go ahead and work harder at the beginning.
I have mixed emotions about endings. On one hand, they bring about a needed sense of closure that would be lost without them. That final goodbye after the who-is-going-to-hang-up-first war on the phone brings satisfaction, the last bubble to fill in on a test brings (some) peace. The end provides us with a chance to celebrate, reflect and respond. But an end can only last so long. Before you know it, May turns into August. Spring turns into summer. Winning a game or competition turns into a new, average day.
Endings give us a chance to reevaluate what went well and what did not, what we liked and what we will not miss, how we did and what we can do. The key element of endings is just that: what we can do, what we should do, what we will do. A frustrating academic year leaves us determined to improve, while a successful academic year leaves us striving to repeat our success.
That's the thing about endings. We are never finished improving, so we never need to worry about the end. Sometimes we dread the end, other times we look forward to it, but the end will always come. Nothing lasts forever. We should find the end of anything to be important, as it is our chance to grow, or look forward to something new.
Maybe you will never take another history class or eat another tomato or travel to the mountains again. And maybe you are happy about that or maybe not. But the end of all those things gave you the chance to reflect on what you liked or did not like. It helped you determine what you will do again, whether faced with these specific situations and presented with new ones. What you will do when presented with a new beginning.
Do not blow off the end of anything whether in celebration or sadness. Embrace the end and know that it means another beginning is just around the corner.
