Sometimes When One Door Closes, an Entire Universe Opens

When you close a door, it’s usually not out of pride or cowardice. You do it because you’re not getting back what you give away, because you don’t have the will anymore, because the pieces of the puzzle don’t fit together with your moods and your dreams. This is when you cross the threshold of fear to open new doors.

However, even if you’re more than used to hearing the words “when one door closes, another one opens,” there are subtle differences that you have to keep in mind. These new doorways, these new universes full of opportunities, don’t just appear magically. You have to go out and find them, you have to make peace with them and make use of certain internal mechanisms for this to happen.

We all suffer now and again from the incurable habit of tuning in to the same emotional channel: the one of suffering, of attachment to lost things, of the memory of what we never achieved, and of the bitterness of all the disappointments we’ve experienced. Somehow, in this abyss of complex emotions, what we often do is leave an infinite number of doors open with a sign that says “just in case.”

But we should try to stop and feel the breeze that blows through these half-open doors. It’s a cold wind that smells like stopped time, dried tears, and unfulfilled dreams. This wind carries the echoes of voices that once harmed us.

It’s necessary to close these doors, for your own emotional balance and health.

The doors we won’t dare to close

Before talking about the universes that lie waiting behind the many doors with your name written on them, take a closer look at the doors you haven’t closed. What does ending a chapter, leaving a job, or ending a relationship really involve?

It means, above all, knowing how to let go, which is something nobody has prepared us for. We’ve been convinced by society and even our own upbringing that we have to have everything without giving up anything.

However, if you think about this delicate act of bravery for a moment, you’ll realize that the simple act of maturing, growing, and obtaining a certain quality of life involves learning to close doors, all the doors that bring in unpleasant winds.

Life obligates us to constantly make decisions in order to be happy. However, if you don’t dare to cross those thresholds and slam the door against the things that hurt and wear you down, the only thing you’re letting go of is your own happiness.

Because don’t forget, happiness has no price but it does have rules, and one of them is to dare to be brave. Ultimately, we must obligate ourselves to advance, put one foot in front of the other, and open our hearts to new experiences with a healthy dose of strength and courage.

Keys to facing the end of a chapter

We cling to the words we didn’t say when we had a chance but were too scared. We’re weighed down by lost opportunities  and infinite “why”s that will never have an answer. There have been so many times that we’ve looked back on the past and watched the present fade away, and this isn’t healthy or natural.

Nobody can live in two places at once. You either move forward, or you become a beautiful bookmark that remains forever in the most painful chapter of a book, without letting yourself discover how your story ends. This isn’t right; you have to close the door, turn the page, and become who you really are.

Strategies to finalize one stage and find a new personal universe

Closing a door isn’t exactly easy. Because you’re not just leaving behind what makes you unhappy; sometimes you also have to let go of certain things that you did identify with, that were yours and made you happy.

Let’s look at a few strategies in detail.

• Practice personal responsibility through an internal dialogue with yourself. Ask yourself what you’re clinging to, what’s holding you back from taking that step to close the door. Define your fears, put a name to them, and try to rationalize them. And ask yourself if in a few years you’d like to be in the same place you are right now.
• Be aware of your strengths. You have talents, so emphasize your virtues, values, and achievements. And remember that your strengths include the people who truly support you and love you.
• Design a plan for your immediate future. Visualize where and how you’d like to be in half a year. Immerse yourself in the positive feeling that accompanies those images. Breathe it in.
• Move forward without extra weight. Leave it all behind and move forward with your heart bare, your mind calm, and your eyes open. Walk without hate, without resentment, and without those boulders that you carried on your back, that made you sick with emotional weight and held you captive.

Close the door and look around with renewed hope. You are one more star in the universe in search of new and wonderful opportunities. Can you feel them?