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Let’s turn the page when 2022 dawns

Turbulent is one word that comes to mind instantly when we think of this year

Published: Wed 29 Dec 2021, 10:36 PM

Updated: Fri 31 Dec 2021, 8:53 AM

  • By
  • Shilpa Bhasin Mehra

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Reuters

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“In every ending there is a new beginning.” This quote is quoted so often but it never loses its charm. We are at the very end of this year and at the doorstep of a new year. I can’t think of a better time than now to reflect on the year gone by.

Turbulent is one word that comes to my mind instantly when we think of this year. Do we keep looking at the door that is going to be closing or do we look for windows that are opening? Good sense says the latter please. The suggestion here is the end of something is the start of something else. We need to move beyond this closing scenario to focus our time, energy, and resources in different ways. It may mean we recognise that shifting focus can bring about a better outcome.

I was contacted by a TV channel in the UAE to do a short 30 second video on the best moments of 2021. That got me thinking that yes even in these most turbulent times, there have been good moments. It is even more imperative in these times for us to think and recall them to keep our spirits and morale up. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. So, in tough times, we need to strengthen ourselves to survive the storm.

Nature around us is the biggest example and inspiration of endings and beginnings. When each day ends, a night begins, followed by a new day, followed once again by night. Each sunset is the start of a new sunrise. The sun inevitably goes down, and it inevitably comes up again. When winter ends, spring begins. Every ending is followed by a beginning. Our lives have seasons and cycles too.

Childhood ends and adolescence begins; adolescence ends and adulthood begins; young adulthood ends and middle age begins; middle age ends and old age begins. It is wise to comprehend that we are an integral part of the great scheme of nature.

We all know that change is the law of nature, yet we resist change. The powerful potential behind change lies in the possibility that each new beginning will bring us greater opportunities than we have ever known. Whether or not that actually happens depends largely on us. We can see each ending as a tragedy or we can see each ending as a new beginning.

Every ending, no matter, how hard it is, is a new opportunity in disguise.

Remember our farewell at school, we cry and are so sentimental about every little thing in school. Yet a few days later in college, we love our newly-found freedom. Just like a bride (in India particularly) weeps when she is leaving her parents’ house after the wedding ceremony. In few days she is glowing with happiness in her new world with her husband. The old has to end to give way to the new.

The year that is soon ending has taught us such valuable lessons that had it been a smooth one, we would not have learnt. We have proved our resilience and emerged stronger. We cannot pat our own back, but we can surely pat each other’s back.

Each year we want to accomplish many things; some are accomplished and many are not. The good thing about the failures is we get to begin again in the new year. So instead of lamenting about the things we could not do, let us applaud our efforts for what all we have accomplished in the lockdowns.

But how can we see an ending as a new beginning? The answer is: by living in the present. The past is gone and the future has not arrived yet. The only place where we can truly live is in our present. Therefore, we must focus all our energies not in trying to change our past but in creating our present moment. This very moment is all that we have, therefore, we must focus our mind on the things we would like to experience in our life. We cannot change what has happened, but we can change how we experience what is going on in our present moment.

We must remember when a chapter ends, another begins, and it is in our own hands the possibility to write a new and most wonderful story. Therefore, we must focus not in the old chapter that has already been written and that we cannot change, but we can always write a new one. This new chapter, this blank paper is our new opportunity, and we can create anything we want.

Let us cut the umbilical cord of 2021 so that 2022 can be born.

Wishing all the readers a Blessed New Year!

Shilpa Bhasin Mehra is a legal consultant based in Dubai and the founder of SBM Consultancy (formerly Legal Connect).



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