Change is always scary, especially when the experiences we have experienced were strong and rewarding. We live it in all stages of life, in study and work paths, in all political, social and organizational realities, in particular where we live roles of responsibility that we do not want to lose.
We would like certain experiences they would never end. But this is a deception. Staying in the "real and beautiful experiences" does not make us live life, because life itself is change and this is the dynamic that makes it fascinating even when it is painful.
Cicely Saunders, founder of the first modern hospice, an extraordinary woman who as a nurse, social worker and doctor has "invented" a new way of assisting people in the most difficult moments, explained it. The time of real experiences, according to her, is once made of depth more than lasting. "The hours of real relationships seem to spend in an instant, while the boring days seem never to spend. But after years, the authentic hours remain impressed forever, the unnecessary days vanish in a nothing".[1]
These real moments- even when lived in pain and dark- can transform themselves, perhaps with amazement and emotion, on occasions of deep peace and light. These passages, especially when accompanied by the authentic relationship with others, can help us and give the strength to face the difficulties, evidence, sufferings and labors we encounter on the way. They encourage us to restart Without fear, facing with audacity what awaits us, meeting the other and welcoming the pains of humanity around us, putting ourselves in turn at stake with the desire to bring where that light and peace that we have experienced is missing.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said: "lost time would be a time not lived in which we had not loved”[2].
What happens when these true experiences seem to disappear and are no longer there? Perhaps this takes away value for experience and roots? Absolutely not! The value of memory is the very foundation of human progress. Also as the philosopher George Santayana says "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.
There were before us who spent their lives for our freedom and happiness. We must know how to return to the experiences that have founded our personal life and our groups of belonging to have the strength to always start again, even in moments of doubt, fragility and tiredness.
[1] Cicely Saunders. Premio Templeton 1981
[2] Dietrich Bonhoeffer. "Resistance and yield" letters and other written from prison