Welcome to your HAPPY ENDING

Accept endings as inevitable - look back with fondness, not regret and learn to celebrate life's steady onward march, writes Anna Bartter

- Anna Bartter

The end is nigh. No, don’t worry, I’m not turning all Nostradamus on you – I mean the end of the year. The time when we celebrate saying goodbye to 2022, and all it brought with it. It’s not a time I particularly relish: I’ve always struggled with endings. From the end of the kids’ school year to returning home from holiday, I recognise a familiar feeling of dread and anxiety creeping in when an ending is on the horizon. It doesn’t even need to be particularly significant; simply coming to the end of a favourite book or TV show can trigger these feelings. I’ve been known to save the very last episode of a series for months before watching it, as I just can’t bear for it to be over (This Is Us, I’m looking at you).

And I know I’m not alone. While some people seem to be more level-headed in their approach to life’s inevitable transitions, many of us find them notoriously tricky to navigate. And New Year can be particularly bittersweet. While it’s traditionally a period of looking forward and thinking about a fresh start, for some of us it can bring a poignant mix of nostalgia and sadness at leaving a year behind.

So why are endings so difficult? As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. What, then, is it about endings, and especially this time of year, that some of us find so hard? It’s complicated, says psychotherapist Roxy Rhodes.