3 ideas from me
I.
In life, I've always gravitated toward elders. I've always found it fascinating that they've stood exactly where I stand now. They've carried the same worries, wrestled with the same anxieties, celebrated the same joys, and faced the same uncertainty.
Better yet, they're living proof that, like time itself, it all passes.
Whatever wisdom I have (and I'm pretty wisdomous) isn't mine alone. It was entrusted to me by those who have already lived through what I'm just beginning. Why wouldn't I trust those who have flipped a game I just started playing?
People often say, "Don't take advice from someone you wouldn't trade places with."
Wrong.
Listen when they tell you where they went wrong. They can keep you on the straight and narrow before you ever make the wrong turn. They know the difference between a shortcut and a detour--because they've walked both.
It's funny—while eyesight often fades with age, perspective rarely does. Their vision may weaken, but their ability to see what truly matters only grows stronger. Time has given them something youth cannot: the gift of hindsight. And if we're willing to listen, their hindsight can become our foresight.
After all, hindsight is 20/20.
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II.
Speaking of old heads, I got the chance to chop it up with an older gentleman who dropped several gems but today I'll only share just one:
Pride--the first and most serious of the seven deadly sins.
There is healthy pride. I think of Black pride. I think of Gay Pride. Entire communities celebrate who they are with pride--so much pride they have a PARADE.
But then there's destructive pride—the kind that keeps you from apologizing, asking for help, admitting you're wrong, or changing your mind.
The older gentleman, a CEO, put it this way:
"Pride is the only poison you can swallow and still live—that's why so many people are afraid to swallow it."
That stuck with me.
Most poisons kill you quickly. Pride lets you live long enough to watch it poison your relationships, your growth, your opportunities, and sometimes your future.
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III.
Lately, the concept of endings has been weighing heavily on my mind.
You know the saying:
"All good things must come to an end."
I'll admit, I used to hate endings. I hated the grief that followed them. Sometimes it even made it difficult to fully enjoy people and moments because of their inevitable impermanence.
"I love you forever" eventually becomes, "I'll remember that I loved you forever."
But now I've begun to see endings differently.
The existence of endings—however painful—also implies the existence of beginnings.
And when an ending is bitter, I find comfort in how beautiful the beginning was.
Wisdom is realizing that beginnings and endings are really the same thing. Every beginning is also an ending. You can’t have just the one.
“Ends are not bad things, they just mean that something else is about to begin. And there are many things that don't really end, anyway, they just begin again in a new way. Ends are not bad and many ends aren't really an ending; some things are never-ending.”
― C. JoyBell C.
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2 Quotes from me
I.
“I think here I will leave you. It has come to seem
there is no perfect ending.
Indeed, there are infinite endings.
Or perhaps, once one begins,
there are only endings.”
― Louise Glück, Faithful and Virtuous Night
II.
This quote is dedicated to my cousin, Demontae Orr, who passed today at just 27 years old:
"The number of hours we have together is actually not so large. Please linger near the door uncomfortably instead of just leaving. Please forget your scarf in my life and come back later for it."
― Mikko Harvey, For M
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1 Question from me
Would you rather see how every relationship begins, or how every relationship ends? Why?
Thanks for reading.
Same time, next week?
Your friend,
Miss Wednesday
xoxo
P.s
If you love life, life will love you back.
