Life’s Sunsets and Sunrises
Our changing lives are full of endings and new beginnings
Hawaii’s legendary sunsets are one of many reasons I’m grateful my husband and I lived there for more than a decade. I was filled with awe and gratitude every time I watched the sun seemingly descend into the sea.
Every sunset is also a sunrise. It all depends on where you stand.
There’s a lot of wisdom in that quote. It reminds me that endings and new beginnings are two sides of the same coin. New beginnings in our lives can’t happen until other things have ended.
It is rarely possible to know in advance what those new beginnings will look like. We have to experience endings and stand on the other side of them before we are able to begin again.
The endings we deal with in our lives are not as beautiful as sunsets in Hawaii. Our endings can be ugly and painful. We don’t always get to choose how or when we experience them.
Most of the time, our new beginnings don’t happen the next day, either. They may not occur until years later. Just as it is dark between sunset and sunrise, we may have to go through a period of darkness before we are able to see the dawn of a new day in our lives.
I’m in one of those in-between times between sunset and sunrise now. I wish I could just wake up tomorrow and count on the dawn of a glorious new day in my life.
The reality is that none of us can count on that, though. Recent events like the pandemic, political instability in the United States and elsewhere, natural disasters, and the war in Ukraine have shown us that things we take for granted can disappear in an instant. Our lives can change drastically at any time, in ways we never imagined.
That truth makes it all the more important to savor magical sunsets, like the ones I saw in Hawaii. It gives us an added incentive to walk in the park, escape to the beach or mountains, or visit any other place where we can immerse ourselves in the beauty of nature.
It also reminds us to spend more quality time with our loved ones. It encourages us to create happy memories we will always treasure. It teaches us to make the most of every moment, and prioritize what truly matters.
Life doesn’t always turn out the way we expected or wanted it to, but that is all the more reason to appreciate the good times. In the words of Kristen Butler,
Sunsets are proof that no matter what happens, every day can end beautifully.
Where are you in your life now? Are you in the midst of an ending, in the dark period between an ending and a new beginning, or currently experiencing a new beginning?
How do you feel about the phase you’re in now? What lessons have you learned from past sunsets, dark periods, or sunrises in your life? Do you have any advice for other readers facing endings, dwelling in darkness, or starting a new chapter in their lives?
Please share your thoughts in the comments below, or in the new chat feature for subscribers only available if you use Substack’s free iOS app. Thanks for reading, and please share this post with anyone you know who might appreciate it!
(Note: an earlier version of this article was published here.)
Beautiful, Wendi. 🌅
I feel like I am experiencing a new beginning. The light is just beginning to peek over the horizon.
After 7 months of having one or both of my parents in our home and my husband and I being their primary caregivers through several medical issues, I was able to move my mom to a memory care facility and we just moved my Dad into a house close to her and we are getting our home back.