Every exit is an entry somewhere else. --Tom Stoppard Exits lead from familiar places, from scenes which have grown stale, rooms which stifle, too small to hold us now. Relationships sometimes boot us out against our will, as do endings of any kind, whether anticipated or cataclysmic, welcomed or resisted with all the force of our being. I’m not terribly fond of going, of entering new territory which one can never be entirely prepared for. I have, in the past, imagined the other side of that threshold between leaving and launching, applying all my intellectual skill to the task. I imagine choices I will make, my likelihood of success or failure. I anticipate changes in my friendships, how my identity might shift subtly, splendidly. My ideas have the structure of truth, just enough scaffolding to crawl into them for housing, for protection against the real truth: the future is inscrutable. No one knows. Our predictions, providing helpful navigation at the outset of any day, or week, or project, or marriage, are only useful if we remain unattached to them. Nothing beats using our actual eyes and the compass of good judgement to make our way through life, in real time. We are born to pay attention. We possess the God-given capacity to do so. These days, I have the sense that every moment is its own threshold. Not all of them lead into the darkness of uncertainty demanding a story as distraction. Fear of falling into a social abyss at the grocery store because I am bereft of a memory for names, need not prevent me from casting a smile in the cracker aisle at a familiar face. Who can say which souls I’ll encounter? Maybe no one I know. Maybe only trees still flowering late in spring. Maybe only clouds and a cashier. I can handle those. Leaving the safety of trying to understand my life turns out to be the biggest exit of all—entry into the pure, creative energy of the future, a bright light through the doorway of becoming. Iris Reid If you are inspired to contribute to this reflection, click on the word "comment" below and share your thoughts with other readers. Thank you!
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