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The road of life is not paved with sunlight alone, nor is it an endless winter of shadow. It is a gentle meandering of both happiness and sadness mingling like seasons that know how to follow one another without asking for permission.
The closing weeks of the year were an emotional roller coaster for me and my family. After a long wait, we finally received some good news, but along with it came complex logistical changes that we had not considered earlier. Those sharp vicissitudes chafed our hearts and minds until another positive outcome brought the pendulum to a pause, albeit for a short while, before it swung again on its relentless path.
In this tumultuous time, at the heart of winter, I saw trees in my backyard stand bare except for the birds’ nests. The nests clung to branches against the cold winds. No leaves remained to shelter them, no flowers distracted from their stark presence. And yet, they endured, underlining the fact that something carefully built still holds its place despite the harshest days.
I know in spring, the same nests that now stand alone will be cradled by green, surrounded by colour and song. Nothing about the nest will have changed; what will change is the season around it.
There is a lesson for us here, as the seasons of the heart and mind continue to change as well. You will find times when sadness strips life down to its bare branches, leaving us exposed and unsure. But those moments do not erase what we have built within ourselves. They simply test it. And when happiness returns, as it always does, it does not arrive to replace sorrow, but to sit beside it, to soften its edges, to remind us that contrast is what gives life its acme and depth.
Just as the new year dawned upon us, my family and I, once again, realised that what happens outside of us will continue to change, but what is on the inside; hope, love and family will help us stand resilient like the nest through winter. When sadness comes, it will be met without despair and when happiness comes, it will be cherished without fear of its passing.
After all, one teaches us how to endure; the other reminds us why we endure at all.