We always think of life as linear.

We start somewhere, do some things, hope to be on an upward trajectory, and end up somewhere where we’ll be content to have been on this trip.

But how life works out on a personal level is nothing remotely linear. We go around in these cycles, some filled with a lot of joy and forward movement, only to hit the other side and what feels like a rapid movement backwards into somewhere darker and more isolated. Sometimes, with everything that life throws at us, it feels like a one step forward two steps back kind of deal.

The longer I live, the more I realise that it’s not just a cycle that repeats the same pattern. It’s more like a spiral, and every ride around it elevates us a little bit higher. Through every cycle, we pick up new skills and new knowledge, we learn ways to get through the pain and grief and sharp edges a tiny bit easier, to come out on the other end a tiny bit more healed and whole.

And if we’re lucky enough to live long enough (and I really don’t take that for granted after losing some of the brightest sparks from my life way too soon), we hopefully start to see how that spiral looks as it’s forming. How everything in our lives connects and how the only job we have is to keep evolving through every cycle. Just a little bit. Just enough so that in the long run, we’re able to gather all the little bits of magic we’ve created and make something meaningful out of it.

Marianne
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