Anniversaries and Kindness

It’s been just over a year since I found out I had to have surgery. It seems both a lot longer and a lot shorter than that. That’s the way with a lot of “first-after”s in our life, a good number of them sad. The first Christmas after a loved one dies. The first spring after being forced to move. The first work day after you were fired from your last job. Life is full of “first-after”s, but they pass. And the “second-after” isn’t as hard. “This too shall pass” is an ancient saying, but it is still true. If you allow yourself to grieve and do not hold on to the pain but let it flow from you, the pain will pass with time. Will you ever be “all better”, “as good as new”, “just like before”. Probably not. Hopefully not. Because if you don’t change, then there was no reason for you to have gone through it. The Future is shaped by change and by inertia. The Future is created by change alone. Create your Future, and be kind to yourself during your “first-after”s.