«"This too shall pass," or the idea that everything eventually passes.

Some time ago, I stumbled upon a roundtable discussion with Hollywood actors, and Tom Hanks uttered a very simple sentence:

“This too shall pass.” — “That too shall pass.”

And everyone around the table nodded in agreement.

A seemingly innocuous, almost banal phrase. And yet, it alone sums up an entire philosophy of life.
Because deep down, we all know what it means…
But we too often forget to experience it.

This phrase is a compass in the storms.
It reminds us that nothing is fixed — neither pain, nor fear, nor confusion.
What you are experiencing today, however intense or unbearable it may seem, will eventually pass.
The good one too. And that's the whole subtlety: everything passes.
The worst as well as the wonderful.

When everything collapses

A little less than a year ago, I lost my parents.
Two days apart.
An earthquake.
The kind of ordeal that tears you away from everything you thought was stable, and leaves you in an almost unreal silence.

And if I'm honest, I haven't grieved yet.
There are still tears to shed or time to learn to live with.
Some days are lighter, others plunge me back into that immense emptiness.
I understood that we don't “"pass"” not to anything else.
We just learn to live with it, to breathe despite the emptiness.

“This too shall pass” does not mean that the pain disappears.
It changes shape.
She becomes gentler, quieter. She slips into memories, the little things of everyday life.
And one day, we realize that we smiled without guilt. That we laughed again.
That's it, the beginning of healing.

What time teaches me

Time erases nothing, but it transforms everything.
I discover it every day, at my own pace.
There are still waves, but they overwhelm me less.
They pass through me, and I let them.

I long believed that “hold on” meant to be strong, not to break down.
Today, I know that true strength lies in continuing to move forward even when your heart trembles.
To accept being in a state of rebuilding, without rushing.
“This too shall pass” It helps me remember that everything eventually shifts a little, in its own way — even the deepest wounds.

When everything is going well

This phrase doesn't just help me in dark times.
She also teaches me to savor the good days.
Because they too pass away, sometimes faster than we would like.

So I try to be fully present when things are going well.
To laugh loudly, to say thank you without waiting for life to remind me to do so.
Perhaps that's what growing up is: learning not to panic when everything falls apart.,
and not to fall asleep when everything seems perfect.
Just… welcome and let it pass.

 At the dawn of a new chapter

I don't know yet what will happen next.
But I feel something moving, gently.
As if life, after having brought me to a standstill, was breathing life back into me: Go on, let's go!.
It is time to turn over a new leaf — not to turn my back on what has been, but to move forward with what I have learned.

As I approach my 40th birthday, I have this strange and beautiful feeling of a new beginning.
Not spectacular, not noisy — just a returning energy, a desire to do, to create again.
And I believe that this change offers me L’'the impetus I needed to start feeling alive again.'.

“This too shall pass” is not a promise of happiness,
but a way to learn to walk in step with life.
To let the waves pass, to welcome renewal, to trust.

Because ultimately, nothing stays fixed. Everything passes, even when we don't believe it.
We fall, we get back up, and we move forward. One day at a time.