I used to hate when things ended.
Seasons, friendships, moments that felt too good. I wanted to hold onto all of them, like if I gripped hard enough, I could keep them from slipping away. But life doesn’t really work like that. The older I get, the more I realize that almost everything good has a short shelf life, and that’s what makes it matter.

Think about it: the first sip of coffee when it’s still hot. The glow of a candle before it burns down. The way a favorite song hits differently the first few times you hear it. Even the seasons…fall, especially teaches us that beauty and loss are always intertwined.

For a long time, I thought stability was the goal. Keep things consistent, unchanging, secure. But the truth is, so much of what makes life beautiful isn’t built to last forever. It’s built to be noticed while it’s here.

When something ends, it’s easy to call it sad. But I’ve started to see endings as small invitations to pay attention. Because when you know something won’t last, like a moment, a season, even a certain version of yourself, you start to really see it. You start to savor it.

The leaves fall, the coffee gets cold, the people you love grow and change, and that’s okay. We don’t have to hold everything still to appreciate it. We just have to be present enough to notice it before it’s gone.

I’ve been trying to stop rushing through the things that are temporary, even the small ones. A quiet morning. A good laugh. A recipe that turns out just right. None of it lasts, and somehow that makes it feel even more precious.

We don’t find beauty in what stays the same.
We find it in what reminds us that time is moving, and that we get to live inside it for a little while.

Autumn