New beginnings can only follow decisive endings
“New beginnings” represent something fresh and wonderful and full of hope. But there is no “new beginning” unless we acknowledge the decisive ending that precedes it. Endings often impose themselves on us, sometimes repeatedly if we didn’t notice the first time, leaving us no other option other than acknowledging “the end”, which inevitably welcomes the “new beginning”.
An end can come in the form of an injury which forces us to acknowledge the end of our youthful and invincible body. It forces us to learn how to use our body despite an unexpected constraint. And herein lies the new beginning – a new appreciation for all our body was able to do before the injury and its adaptability post-injury. I wish for you to find this new beginning injury-free – may you enjoy and appreciate the miraculous human body you have been blessed with.
An end can come in the form of an illness which forces us to acknowledge how much strain we take on, how close to the end we are willing to go, before admitting we need help to get better. Help can be anything from rest, to medication, to outside intervention, but it has to be something (or someone). Once we realise what we are willing to do to get better, we define our new beginning – our value of life itself, for all we have achieved in life thus far and what we want to continue to achieve, for which we have to recover, for which we have to fight to live. I wish for you to find this new beginning free of all ills – may you discover what in life you value and are willing to fight for and who will help you in this this fight.
An end can come in the form of a failed career which forces us to assess what we have been pursuing up until now and the reasons we didn’t get as far as we hoped we would. It is at this stage that we can identify the new beginning by seeing clearly what we regard as our purpose in life. Having defined this purpose, we can better navigate where we want to go next and, re define the failures as stepping stones towards are ultimate purpose in life. I wish for you to find this new beginning failure-free – may you see how the stepping stones you laid out are leading you towards achieving your purpose in life as you see it.
An end can come in the form of a broken relationship which forces us to acknowledge that we can’t control how others act within a relationship. For our new beginning, we must acknowledge that we can control how we act. We learn how much we value ourselves, and what we value in ourselves. We learn to set boundaries to protect ourselves and we learn to choose people who will value us as much as we value them. I wish for you to find this new beginning with no breaks – may you know your self-worth and guard it with care and with love.
I wish you to find your new beginnings hassle-free, but the hassle is often needed to motivate us to go to new directions. It is through acknowledgement of the ending, that we recognise what is important to us and what is needed to move forward. The endings force us to declutter thoughts, declutter things, and even declutter people in our lives that no longer match our values and ambitions. Acknowledging the ending is a task, often forced upon us, which can come with great physical and emotional pain. And yet, having gone through the process, then awaits an elated feeling of hope, where the “new beginning” can lead us to more promising destinations.
I wish for you to find your promising destinations through hopeful beginnings in the New Year.