All relationships have a beginning and an end. Look at the relationships in your life. Where and how did they start and stop?

In some cases, your most important relationships had a ceremonious start. A wedding? a kickoff? A ceremony of some kind? A public event where you lay bare your love and commitment towards another person, a project, or an idea. I think of it like a “birth” process.

On the other hand, your most important relationships that ended likely had a ceremonious end. A divorce? A termination? A graduation? A funeral? A time where you had to account for what happened — good or bad — and you looked forward to the future. I think of this like a “death” process.

The birth and death processes ultimately end with some type of closure. When a new human is born, families/society (hopefully) often celebrate and initiate the newborn in some way. When a human dies, family/society (hopefully) come together to lay bare their love for that person in a memorial service.

Your audience (mostly) only remembers how you start the song and how you end it. Make each moment special. How you start and stop matter.