On social media you come across countless quotes, clever sayings and motivational speeches every day. Sometimes it’s exactly what you need (and want) to read at that moment. Sometimes just the opposite. Sometimes it hits a sore spot. Sometimes it changes the day.
A quote I came across while scrolling and thought about for a long time:
“Your life is not about the end or the beginning. It’s about everything in between.”
Why did I get stuck on this quote? Because there is so much between the lines. And you can apply it to almost all areas of life. A graphic could be seen under the quote on the said Instagram post. Two lines are displayed on it. On one you only see a white ball at the beginning and a black ball at the end. On the second you can see all the colors of the rainbow. The line is represented entirely by colored balls: bright colors, subtle tones, dark nuances, light colors. And that is exactly what our lives should look like. A colorful journey in which there is so much more than just black and white. It’s not just about the white beginning and the black end, but about everything that makes up our lives. Our options. The paths we take. But also what makes us human. How different we are. How diverse our personal happiness can look. It is so rare that a decision can only be divided into “black” and “white”.
And this is something that you should consider not only in relation to your own life, but also when judging others. Because our society is often far too harsh and hasty. Good person / bad person. Right decision / wrong decision. Beautiful / ugly. Too quickly something is judged as wrong, which from another perspective was the only right action. Especially now, at a time when our society is very divided. I recently wrote a column about “How valuable our togetherness is”.
No, it’s not just left and right when we take the issue to the political level. Here too, there are countless nuances in between. And I really hope that this (healthy) middle ground will once again be the path that politics – and even more so we as a society – will take. The shift to the right scares me (like so many of you). Because it divides where we need unity. Cohesion doesn’t work if we divide ourselves into two camps and only stick to black and white. There is a rainbow between black and white. It’s (as so often) about empathy. About listening, talking to one another. Finding out together which color shade everyone feels comfortable with. I know that this is a mammoth task with so many millions of people in our country.
But back to the quote that moved me so much. In this case it was about your own life. The way. The experience. All the small and large, colorful adventures that we experience on our own personal path.
The colors white and black refer not only to the beginning and end of life, but to every single day. Small and large decisions that we have to make for ourselves. Every day offers so many new possibilities. Countless shades of color that we can choose from. We should always be aware of this. Sure, there are things that are set in stone. Which are nothing to shake. But if you look closely, these only make up a small part. There are almost always different options. Even if you may not see them at first glance.
But I also associate highs and lows with the colors. The radiantly light shade that comes after a dark one. Joy after sorrow. The rollercoaster of life. Positive energy that follows something that has drained us of almost all of our energy. The dark purple, which at one point cheats itself into a light pink phase of life. And the cream stripe in a dark red wall.
When I think back to my life so far, there are so many different colors – and it was rarely black or white. Especially when I think about my professional career. There was a lot of unconventional stuff there. Lots of color. But for me that was and is exactly the right thing to do. While someone else feels much more comfortable with “classic” shades.
There are not just the decisions “child or career”, “get married or be single”, “apartment in the city or house in the country”, “run-of-the-mill job or creative self-employment chaos”, not just “loud or quiet”. There is so much in between everywhere. And that’s a good thing.
With this in mind: I wish you a nice, colorful week! Always remember: Between the black and white options, there are rose, bright yellow, gray, coral, khaki and countless other options. And life is a lot more fun with a big dose of color anyway, isn’t it?
