Seasons of our Life

By Ruby Chbeir

Nature, sky, earth, feelings…then Life happens, with the four seasons, our life changes, Sometimes even more often than trees change dresses...

As we grow, we begin to lose few leaves, we wear a greater pride, ambition, ego, and dream to reach the stars.

But we also lose some precious things and people with every new decision, then winter arrives in full throttle, we stand in the middle of the paths we took Naked, inside and out, yet boldly facing every challenge… Then, when we are close to cracking, a ray of sun finds its way into our eyes, to the soul we feel alive and in control again…

We are born into a family that treasures us, But we are keen to grow, Family watches us take our first steps, watches us fall and get up, countless times, And then again, Watches as we achieve every new stage of life, one at a time, And begin the next, full of hope and adventure.

Time passes… we change, we evolve,

We achieve more, fail, then achieve, fail, achieve more, and more… Until that time comes, when we realize; to bloom even more, we must leave the familiar and leave the nest,

One sudden night, we man-up, pack up,

Book a ticket, no goodbyes, and slam the door…

We are on a train heading somewhere,

We aren’t sure where, but something feels good;

We are anxious, yet excited and adventurous…

We sit back, look out the window of that rolling train,

In no time, we settle in our own, new house

Life begins to blossom, we are doing something we love,

We make friends along the way,

We cook, drink, party, and talk endlessly

We love, we enjoy, but then again,

We sit back, detach from our now, and evaluate;

What have we really done by coming here? By leaving the loved ones behind?

We begin to wonder, what could my next step be?

A new storm rises,

We are scared of the unknown, of the future our eyes ceased to see,

We fail, everything crumbles,

And we are colder, harder, lost,

Unsure what to do with broken dreams and shattered insides.

We fight back, we strike as hard as we can,

Refuse depression and helplessness.

Then we wake up one cold day, look out the window

To see a scenery wearing a magical white gown,

And the sun beaming a shy ray over the horizon.

Something lights up in that brain,

We realize in a flash, that all this time

 We thought we were looking for and building our future;

A “brighter” future, we had told ourselves…

A “bigger” achievement, we had convinced our mind...

But the truth is;

We kept planning and re-planning a “grand finale”, that

We Missed out on special moments,

On all that essentially mattered;

We lost special people and hearts who loved us,

When all we should have done is “live”,

Live the now, and enjoy the present, every single day

With those around us, now, in this today.

Don’t spend your life searching for the perfect plan,

Or the grandiose future our human mind pictures,

Don’t spend your life setting goals;

Goals are vicious, like the human nature,

They become greedy, and irrational impossibilities,

As one is achieved, greed for another one, another, and yet another

Is nurtured

We convince ourselves: if we get there,

We find happiness, optimism, settlement and become rich.

Yet again, we had misjudged…

We grow older, and older, and older in time,

And with a sweet bitterness in our heart,

We realize, after all,

All that matters is;

I had done and lived at my best every single day of my life.

Don’t be grim, don’t be greedy, don’t be a scrooge:

You are gifted with Four Seasons in one lifetime,

Look forward to the virtues of each,

But listen and observe closely the vice of every stage,

The vice will remind you that,

Nothing is perfect, and nothing will ever come easy.

Yet, if you give yourself the time to do something you enjoy

Every day, despite the gloomy horizon you think reigns over you,

Hope, Optimism, and Faith will be reborn

Yes, there in your heart, the same way all three were in your heart

When you first started your journey.