Experience In Retrospect

Image by A_Different_Perspective from Pixabay

There’s a finality to endings that’s bittersweet. 

The completion of the thing - especially something that’s absorbed us wholeheartedly and then come to its natural conclusion - almost always elicits a mixture of emotions. 

There’s the joy that comes from the experience (the good times, the contributions, the confirmations) which can be considerable and, at times, overwhelming. Joy that’s experienced both during but also in retrospect, once we’ve gained an appreciation of aspects we may have earlier taken for granted. 

But there’s also the regret of things we should have or could have done. Those things that we did take for granted when we really shouldn’t have, those things we should have done when we had the chance. 

In an ideal world, the balance ought to be tilted towards the former and not the latter but, of course, that’s not always going to be the case. Sometimes, that balance changes with time, as we gain the benefit of distance. That time mellows us, calms us down, provides us with a sense of perspective. 

This is how it is, I suppose, in work, in love and in life. Perspective takes its own time. It’s slower, harder to come by, in direct proportion to the intensity of the experience (never more so than in matters of the heart).  

It’s a challenge that faces us all, because, well, that’s life. I have to think that the best we can do is be full-hearted and fully committed to our thing, whatever it is, independent of (in spite of?) our assumptions, expectations and judgement, and certainly any personal insecurities or misgivings. That must be the goal.