Dawn & Dusk

The unpredictable and messy beauty of transitions.

Happy Sunday y’all!

I hope you’re enjoying the final days of summer and preparing for shorter days and the chance to wear long sleeves again.

This week’s newsletter was inspired by a habit of watching the sun rise and set each day. Both are great times to observe stillness and a tremendous display of everyday beauty.

Hope you enjoy today’s thoughts and catch the sunset tonight if you can.

Kevin

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We need to be reminded that a sunrise lasts but a few minutes. But its beauty can burn in our hearts eternally.

- R. A. Salvatore

Dawn & Dusk

Dawn and dusk are underrated times of the day. They are more beautiful and interesting than any other time of the day or night. Colors fill the skies, and perfect gradients of oranges and reds constantly shift and change as the sun crawls above or slips below the horizon.

The transition begins almost 45 minutes before or after the sun appears or disappears from view, but once it reaches a certain point in the sky, the unique display transforms into the familiar light of day or darkness of the night.

Times of transition in our own lives are imperfect. We’re caught between two worlds and often jumping from a place where we feel comfortable, confident, and safe to something we don’t fully understand yet.

In short, transitions are hard. We tend to avoid change if we can, and it takes an enormous amount of energy to adjust the path of our lives once it’s chugging down the tracks in a specific direction.

When we’re in the midst of a transition struggling to find our footing and figure things out, it can feel like climbing a mountain covered in loose gravel where every step forward is met with a slip backward. We’re so focused on finding firm ground to stand on that we don’t notice we’re slowly gaining ground.

Zoomed in at the individual level, transition is messy, scary, and unsettling. Zoomed out, it’s a rare chapter of our lives that holds the same unique beauty of dusk and dawn. As we turn the corner into something new, our colors bleed, and the edges are blurred as we figure things out.

It’s hard to recognize the elegance of two things blending together and creating something fleeting and new when we’re in the thick of it, but those around us can see the growth. Parents watch their kids navigate near-constant transition for the first 20 years of their lives. Friends watch each other work through the process of starting a new career. We watch our significant others grow and change as time progresses and circumstances change.

Although transition feels like the edges of our lives bleeding away into ambiguity and struggle, we can lean on the knowledge our perspective is muddling reality. From the right vantage point, each transition softens the edges and blends the color of our lives together as beautifully as day fades to night, and dusk turns to dawn.

Prompts

1. Am I in a period of transition right now? How do I feel about it? How do those around me view the transition?

2. What value can I find in the ambiguity of transition?

3. Is anyone I care about going through a period of transition? Can my perspective help them navigate the uncertainty?

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Thanks for reading! I’ll see you next Sunday.

Kevin