New Beginnings.......

Beginnings: a new chapter in my life

“A new beginning”: that's an evocative phrase, isn't it? It sounds a lot easier than it really is in all reality....It conjures up images of adventure; of starting a new chapter in life; of self-empowerment through proactive decision making.

The opportunities for a new beginning in life are abundant – even if we are not fully aware of them (or choose to ignore them). If we don't seize (or at least consider the merits of) each potential new beginning, then perhaps we're not giving ourselves the opportunity to even get started in life. What if you already started, and feel like you've been starting again, and again and again, only to find that those were just hurdles in life and now this is the really big "starting over/new beginning?"

A new beginning in any part of your life – whether starting a new job or a new relationship; relocating to a new city or country; or assembling a new blog – can be inspiring and exciting, and almost inevitably evokes a range of emotions. It is full of hope and anticipation; of, perhaps, a fear of the unknown; and of a degree of mourning for what was left behind. But this, really, is what life should be all about: testing ourselves by facing up to new (and hopefully stimulating and rewarding) challenges. Each new beginning in life is almost certain to present a worthy new challenge of some sort or other. 

By embarking upon a new beginning, we are obliged to reminisce about what that “beginning” is replacing – as a new chapter of life commences, an earlier chapter inevitably closes. As Seneca (the Roman philosopher) is attributed with saying: “every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end”. That process of reminiscing is important (if sometimes emotionally difficult): it serves to remind us how fleeting life is, and of the importance of living a full and varied life.

Life is, in many ways, like a book: it is made up of a number of chapters; there's a beginning, a middle and an end; during the course of the story, we're likely to encounter a hero (or two) and, most likely, several villains; and, if it was a good book, we might hope to learn a few lessons, laugh, cry and increase our understanding of who we are or of the world around us. My beginning was good, a marriage, two children, and a happy ever after...or was it happy? Actually, turns out that I didn't really know happiness or love. the middle was finding out everything that I did wrong along the way, learning from it and accepting the mistakes so that I didn't make them again. I raised two kids from their early teens as a single mother, and although at times it was difficult, wanted to pull my hair out and emotional, nothing could have challenged me more than what was about to come.......

Hello Cancer....I'm not afraid of you and I am going to kick your ass! Yes, 4 times in 10 years...it got tiring, BUT I never gave up. Some say that they honestly don't know how I did it. Working full time, family, single mom, and a disease that some don't live to tell about. Piece of cake! I managed to get through it, got the kids through college and studying abroad, and relocated them.. well, almost. I've decided to start my journey back home to where it all began..... to start a new life hopefully with someone special, but not before I get my son settled into his new home in NYC. My businesses are doing well and I can say truly that I am proud of my life, what I have accomplished and realize that if I died tomorrow, my life would have been almost perfect., with the regret of not meeting Mr Wonderful. STOP!  I have....hold that thought.....this will have to be Chapter 2 in my story to continue....

When each of us comes to look back on the lives that we have led, how pivotal will those various new beginnings in our lives (whether embarked upon or ignored) prove to have been? Doubtless some new beginnings may have led to nowhere; others may have improved the quality of our lives (and even the lives of those around us) more than we could ever have foreseen at the time. However, one thing is for sure: taking the time to identify the opportunities in life to embark upon a new beginning is a valuable endeavour - each new beginning is the opportunity to write a new chapter of our lives; mine starts here. I am happy, excited, and a little bit nervous.....I feel stripped down and naked.....