I Now Know My Work Here Is Done
When one had to let things go, and know that whatever work there may have been is done, that our time in that role or job has passed. It may be a poignant time, as when we as parents come to realize that our children no longer want or need our direction and guidance as they once did.
As a parent when this happens, it is the bittersweet result of victim of our own success...as they are doing exactly as they were raised to do; to think for themselves, to make sound decisions, to live and learn from their own mistakes and to go on living and improving. Yes, they still need us to varying times and degrees, but essentially that work is done and one realizes how utterly consuming it had been, and that we would gladly do such efforts again and not have given that up for anything else in the world.
At one point, shortly after my divorce, the ex called with a small litany of pressing and confounding situations that she presented to me. I had to stifle a well worn and used response and instead collect myself, breath out a little bit, and gently remind her "Gracie, I don't fix things anymore. That is all up to you now, but I know that you can do it". And I mean I had to really stifle my inclination to jump in and fix things; it was what I had always done...but I also knew that such work there was past me now.
The other great hurdle in life may well be like my own, when a career comes to an end. It can seem as if things could not go on without you, who else will pour their heart and soul into things as i had? Yet is another lesson in humility and a lesson that one should not wed themselves to any job, because you may have been needed, but nobody is that essential. Be essential to yourself first, then you can be more essential to your loved ones, and THEN your vocation.
Be able to close whatever chapter you are on in your book of life when it is appropriate to do so. Such things can not be clung onto nor can they be made to last. Live them the time it is to live them, and do so fully, and then know when to say
"I now know my work here is done.".
As a parent when this happens, it is the bittersweet result of victim of our own success...as they are doing exactly as they were raised to do; to think for themselves, to make sound decisions, to live and learn from their own mistakes and to go on living and improving. Yes, they still need us to varying times and degrees, but essentially that work is done and one realizes how utterly consuming it had been, and that we would gladly do such efforts again and not have given that up for anything else in the world.
At one point, shortly after my divorce, the ex called with a small litany of pressing and confounding situations that she presented to me. I had to stifle a well worn and used response and instead collect myself, breath out a little bit, and gently remind her "Gracie, I don't fix things anymore. That is all up to you now, but I know that you can do it". And I mean I had to really stifle my inclination to jump in and fix things; it was what I had always done...but I also knew that such work there was past me now.
The other great hurdle in life may well be like my own, when a career comes to an end. It can seem as if things could not go on without you, who else will pour their heart and soul into things as i had? Yet is another lesson in humility and a lesson that one should not wed themselves to any job, because you may have been needed, but nobody is that essential. Be essential to yourself first, then you can be more essential to your loved ones, and THEN your vocation.
Be able to close whatever chapter you are on in your book of life when it is appropriate to do so. Such things can not be clung onto nor can they be made to last. Live them the time it is to live them, and do so fully, and then know when to say
"I now know my work here is done.".
By:
BluTravlr
Age:
51-55
,
Male
