As I write this, I think of the many people of all ages who in this same month will be going through graduation ceremonies here in the States. Side note: I am one of those people who happen to find it absolutely ridiculous for a kindergartner to be going through such a ceremony. Heck, I’m not even ok with high schoolers going through it, but that’s another discussion for another day. 😊 Aaaanyway, what I’m talking about has to do with having gone through the rigor of schooling and ending up with a degree or certificate of some sort.

I happen to have again witnessed the rigor of schooling up close; a sibling of mine is set to graduate. I experienced the joys and difficulties of graduate school again through her eyes. Because of her, I remembered moments of sheer stress and pure elation when I went through my own highs and lows as a grad student. But, as is now her case, I also recall there being an end date. YES, friends, I also graduated.

Do you know, I recently mentally traveled back to high school and the excruciatingly difficult exams I had to endure with my classmates. I went through the British schooling system which even then was known to be heavily rigorous/challenging. I recall my 15-year-old self gearing up to undertake a whopping 22 exams over the course of two or so months! No, don’t feel terribly sorry for me. I wasn’t unique. We all had a TONNE of exams we were preparing to take that summer. The point is, I was thinking back at how humongous a mountain that seemed to me then, and was (!), but aware of how trivial it somehow looks to me now. Only “somehow” though. Lol. Not only that, I think back on preparing to have my first child. Of thinking ahead to what childbirth would be like. Of having a good amount of trepidation about the process, what to expect, etc. Yet, it is now another thing that has taken place. Check. Check.

I am literally encouraged just knowing that no matter how difficult different seasons of my life were, they came…and then, zzzzzip! They went. My sibling went through her many highs and lows, and is now left with a major high! That’s just how life is. The things that have longer lasting value usually come with challenges and pain, but then…we’re left with joy.  

And now, I think of you out there reading this while trudging through life. You may be in a trying season right now. Isn’t it a wonderful thought that one day you’ll look back on this time and smile? That’s just it. You will look back at some point. The beautiful thing is that at the end of our lives, we’ll be amazed at how many mountains we scaled.

So, no matter how large your current mountain, it will be a thing of the past at some point. How to leap over a mountain? One step at a time. 😊

Graduation is ‘round the corner. Hang in there.

©2018, WriTEswAY