A Time for Change

"There is an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:

A right time for birth and another for death,

A right time to plant and another to reap,

A right time to kill and another to heal,

A right time to destroy and another to construct,

A right time to cry and another to laugh,

A right time to make love and another to abstain,

A right time to embrace and another to part,

A right time to search and another to count your losses,

A right time to hold on and another to let go,

A right time to rip out and another to mend,

A right time to shut up and another to speak up,

A right time to love and another to hate

A right time to wage war and another to make peace..."

Ecclesiastes 3: 1 - 8 (MSG)

I woke this morning with my emotions completely split in two. Today is my last day at my current job. Tomorrow I start a whole new path, in a new place, with new people. I have been wanting - needing - this change for so long, when the opportunity first came up I was desperate with excitement. Now that it's here, the fear of the unknown, the inadequate, and the lonely is very real - and I don't remember it being quite as scary last time...

For the past while I have had the privilege of working with the most amazing team. This post won't do them justice, but if you want to know how I managed to get up and come to work every morning, you can look right at them. They made the tough days better, and the good days the best. They're so uniquely different as individuals, but together they're a formidable force of family. How do I say goodbye to these people without falling apart a little bit?

'The Office' - as we fondly named ourselves
(back L-R) Dee, Ric, Dave, Habib, Robyn & Riyaad
(seated front L-R) Edwin & Alison

And yet I know - I believe - that there is a time and season for everything. I trust that what must be, will be. And each of these people have had a hand in shaping me into what I am today. So, as M (we all have nicknames/alter-egos in here, and for some reason, along the way, I got christened "M" - as in the head of M16 secret service, and conveniently shortened for "mum") I think it's only right, and probably expected, that I share a few parting 'words of wisdom' on what I've learnt from The Office:

This Too Shall Pass. 

If I have learnt anything, I have learnt that nothing lasts forever - no mood, no great desire, no painful situation. Don't hold too tight onto whatever you have going on right now (good or bad) because change is inevitable and has no respect for whether or not you want it or are ready for it. So it's best you realise that it's coming, and learn to accept it graciously.

You Cannot Rush a Life Lesson You Are Learning.

Of course it helps if you learn it first time, but most of us don't. If you're anything like me you'll require two, three, even ten attempts at the same test before getting it right - and that's ok too. The benefit is often in learning the lesson itself, not the result.

Love Liberally and Honestly. 

Yes, wearing your heart on your sleeve brings vulnerability, but to choose to keep your distance out of fear of being hurt, judged or abandoned can rob you of wonderful experiences and precious relationships. When people genuinely connect, you never really say goodbye. You carry something of each other with you forever.

And of course, Wear Sunscreen.
Enough said, right Dave and Ric? :)


So to my awesome office family - here's to you: to the memories we share, to the relationships we have, and to the new beginnings we enter into! Three cheers to you all - you're brilliant, absolutely brilliant! wink wink