The End of A Chapter is the Beginning of Another. Embrace New Beginnings
One of the things that I have understood in life is that an ending is not a dead-end but actually an opening to new opportunities. It is true that life is made up of chapters, but what you should know is that the end of a chapter does not mean that the story has ended. Life will definitely and certainly go on. When one phase of life ends, it will open up to a new phase - this continuity is part of what makes life worth living. When one phase ends, you will carry enough lessons, wisdom, and strength, which you can take into the new phase to make the journey easier and better.
There are sometimes that an ending might be painful, but you have to look beyond it, and look at the infinite possibilities that you can get from that and from the ones coming after. For example; you may have been working in a place for a couple of years and suddenly you may be relieved of your duty. It will definitely be painful maybe because of how attached you have become to the place and because of other factors too, but it can open you up to other opportunities - you can even start up your own business. This is why you do not have to see endings as punishments or something bad, rather you should see them as a sign that something good is coming.
It is worthy to note that there are more opportunities coming in front than the ones you feel may have passed. The setting of the sun, or dusk, does not mean that the world has come to an end, rather it is a pointer and an indication that the dawn will still come. Trust me, the dawning of the day may not erase the pains that were experienced the previous night, but it offers an opportunity for a fresh start. Everyday that comes will definitely deliver new opportunities. However, you will need to shift and realign your focus from what you think you have lost, to what you are able to create, in order to assess the infinite possibilities in each day. No matter how much you sulk, you cannot bring back yesterday, so focus on what you have - the present and the future, and then make the most of them.
A friend once told me a story about what happened where he did his mandatory 1 years National Youth Service (NYSC) PPA some years back. He put in all his efforts to serve the company, and even went beyond his limits, with the hopes that the company would retain him after his service year and make his their full staff. This hope kept him and made him to put his entire soul into the company. At the end of the service year, there was no vacancy for him as a staff, so he had to leave. It felt so bad and it was like his hopes crashed before his eyes. In fact, he felt it was the close of a chapter for him. Little did he know it was the opening of a better one for him.
There was this customer of the company who picked interest in him. Each time the customer came to transact at the company, he would see him working tirelessly, and even attended to him well. In fact, he did not even know he was just on NYSC, he thought he was the company's full staff because of the way he was working. So when the man came again after a few weeks, he did not see him. He asked of him and he was told that he has completed his service year and was out. The man felt bad that the company did not retain him. So he reached out to him and made an offer to him. The man just newly completed his own company and needed someone to manage it. He gave him an offer even more than what they would have paid him if they had retained him at the old company. What looked like an end of a chapter actually became the beginning of a new and better chapter for him.
One of the vital lessons that I have learnt in life is that an exit will always be an entrance into somewhere else. So each time you are closing a chapter, you should not do it with hopelessness, but with grace and hope, with the knowledge that it will open you up to a new and better chapter. Also reflect on the vital lessons that the last chapter taught you, which you can apply in the next chapter to make it better than the previous.
Thanks for reading
