Many of you may know I love to read. I have shelves full of books at home and I’ve only read about half of them. This sounds bad that I haven’t read them all, but to me it’s exciting because it means I have so many more adventures to go on, page by page, chapter by chapter, and book by book. And in my defense, I love to buy books, so it seems that for each book I read, I’ve bought at least another in that time period.
As I reach the last few chapters of a book I always think, “I just want to finish it. I want to know how it ends!” So I put off everything else, any pressing homework, any housework, whatever it is, and I finish it. It’s so exhilarating. I love when every part of the story comes together for the main event. But then as the climax of the story winds down a different feeling sets in. One of yearning. Yearning for the story to not end. Some of you may have had the same thoughts that I’ve had while reading books, “Why does it have to end at this moment?”, or “There has to be another way!”. There are many reasons these feeling and questions come. You are going to miss the characters, and the places they’ve been. You’ve been with them through so much and for what seems like eons. You may have come up with a different ending of your own that you think is better. How can the author just make you leave them now? What cruelty! You may especially have felt these feelings after reading a series such as Harry Potter. I’ve been by your side Harry for 7 years now, how can you just leave me as if you just apparated! With the release of the new book maybe many of you have been consoled for at least moment. I know what you’re thinking, “I’m never going to read a book again! That way I can’t have these feelings!” Don’t do that. You’ll have these same feelings when you finish watching all 9 seasons of The Office on Netflix too. The journey that books take you on are way worth the short melancholy mood that may follow. I think these feelings also come because we know change must follow once we are finished the book. It’s not a change of lifestyle or change of location, but changing to a new book can be difficult at first. After finishing each of the books by Dan Brown, I was a little sad that each of the stories were over, but I was excited to read the next because I knew it was the same main character, same author, and the new story may relate slightly to the one I had read before. Those transitions were fairly easy.
This may sound like a far fetched comparison but in life we have similar experiences. We have short stories that make up our lives. Each of them have beginnings and ends. Some can be longer stories, such as a 5-year university degree, and others shorter stories, like a summer vacation. When we start each of these stories we think they will never end. But time marches on and the end comes. We have that same yearning feeling that comes when finishing a book for that moment to continue, not to end. We’ve grown close to the people around us who are apart of those stories, and we’ve grown accustomed to the places where the story takes part. As we change into something new, or start a new story in our life, we may be uneasy about it at first. There may be some longing for the old times. We don’t know the new people, or characters, very well, we’re still getting use to the new location. We’re trying to figure out where everything fits. After a short time however we become comfortable with what is happening and we begin to even enjoy it. We move forward, day by day, week by week, not necessarily taking much note. But then the story starts coming to an end and you may think, “Have I appreciated this as much as I should have?”, or “Did I make the most of this time in my life? Or did I waste it wishing I was somewhere else, or doing something else?” I believe we have all had a moment or two like these in our lives at one time or another. Looking back can be a hard thing. With our new present knowledge, we may have wished we had done something a different way. But the only reason we have that present knowledge, is because of that experience we just went through. During that time, we didn’t have this new knowledge so we couldn’t act in that way. So don’t beat yourself up over small things like that. Enjoy each moment of the story, and when you think you haven’t appreciated past moments as much as you should have, enjoy the present ones even more. Finally, the story comes to an end. Those feelings of yearning for it not to end arrive. But these life stories never leave us, just like the story in a book. These stories make us who we are. The greater the experience, the more impact it will have. We can remember them when faced with new challenges thinking, “What did I learn in the past that can help me now?” Each story builds upon the last making the new stories even more fulfilling and exciting. With each of them our capacity to accomplish more increases. And the best part is, with the closing of one story, there is always a new one just around the corner with new people, places, and experiences just waiting to show you something new.
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Hello readers! I'm Brian, an amateur photographer. I will be posting photos I take, reviews of products, and any tips I can offer to fellow photographers out there! I hope you feel welcome to read, leave comments, and create discussion! Check out other posts on my Niume account here: Brian Sloan Blog Categories
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