Today, I understand the person who never leaves their hometown and has no interest in going off for adventures in new locales. They don’t move to the big city for a job or take a contract offer from another province. They prefer to stay where they are, in the known.
This business of moving on is very hard when you’re not running away from anything. When what you’ve got is good if not great and still, you’ve made the decision that great will be awesome if you move on, it’s still a painful experience even though it’s exciting and there are are no regrets. The great philosopher Bryan Adams once sang, “It cuts like a knife, but if feels so right.” Those people who never tear themselves away from the familiar for a chance at something even better, will never know this kind of mourning. They say all good things come to an end but it’s a special kind of sadness to be the one who’s ending a good thing. What I’m doing changes a lot of lives. None more than mine.
The familiar way of life is like an old sweater you’ve broken in past its scratchy, stiff phase and worn and washed into a soft garment that clings to you and keeps you warm.
The new life is a pair of designer jeans you know you’re paying a silly, high price for, but they’re going to make your butt look good and once you work them in, they’ll be your absolute favourites and you won’t want to wear anything else.
Sometimes you’ll wish you could put the sweater on, maybe just to wear around the house, but you know that giving it to charity was the right thing to do. Even though you loved it, it really didn’t fit you anymore and it was out of style. It’s OK to still have warm memories about it. But it’s just time to move on.