Simon Le Bon

The guard kindly let me go onto the platform to help my daughter with her luggage. I got her settled and then left the train. I could see her crying through the window. I did a series of silly walks inspired by Monty Python, and Walking Like an Egyptian, a la The Bangles 1986. I pulled stupid faces, made heart signs with my hands, and blew her kisses. Gradually she began to laugh. We’d actually dropped her to university the week before – but she’d come back home for a wedding, and leaving the second time around was tougher somehow.

It’s her second year – but her first year had mainly been spent at home because of Covid. Like thousands of others her lectures had been on her computer, and she’d incurred debt for student housing she barely used. After such a year, there's still deep uncertainty about what university life will be like this time. None of us really know quite how things will pan out. Covid has made even the everyday seem strange, let alone big transitions. The best advice I can seem to give my daughter is “Expect the unexpected” – which is hardly soothing. She’s travelled the world – often by herself. We’ve always encouraged that. But that doesn’t mean that change is always easy.

Personally, I often find change hard. I even stick with things when it would be better if I didn’t - be that old sofas, old shoes, old clothes, or more complex emotional situations. In the Qur’an there is a huge focus on the transience of this world – verse after verse reminding the reader that change is inevitable. The Qur’an calls on the reader to strive for spiritual growth, to change themselves, to recognise the ultimate transition which will come. But knowing that change is inevitable, and even knowing that often the change will be good, doesn’t always make it any easier. Which is why I guess I love the Prayer of Serenity so much “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference, living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; taking this world as it is and not as I would have it.” Not easy, but a way to peace I reckon.