A new year is the start of new beginnings – people revisit old resolutions and determine to make new and better ones this year.
But what is a new beginning? What do we do with the old – what do we leave behind? What do we bring with us? What needs to be revised or redefined? What do I want anyway?
There are so many “have to’s” in life – and therein lies the rub – we have to work, we have to get up in the morning when we feel like sleeping another hour, we have to get the kids off to school, we have to check our e-mails, we have to send that thank you note, we have to get more training – the list goes on and on and before we are half way through, we are too tired to think about what we really want.
Being sick for a week and out of commission gave me an opportunity to reflect on my goals. Are they out of proportion – out of place? Will they continue to require too much time and effort?
While reflection happens any time, when our energy levels have been drastically reduced, our goals don’t seem as important as they did when we are bursting with enthusiasm and motivation.
But can we learn from those down times on how to take the next step forward in our lives without throwing everything out the window?
Sometimes that new beginning – that next step – is the result of a drastic change that has been thrust on us. Sometimes, it is just stopping long enough to allow that creeping uncertainty to catch up with us so we can address it.
A new year gives us a legitimate opportunity to challenge our status quo. Change can be daunting – but it is always evolving. We can be a part of it – or we can try to stop it. We can harness it and channel its course or we can run away from it.
Change is constant. It is what we take away from it that really matters.
This month of January I will be speaking to change, new beginnings and discovering more of ourselves.
©2013 Marlene Anderson