It’s not always about trying to fix something that’s broken. Maybe it’s about starting over and creating something better. ~Author Unknown
Once upon a time there were three little pigs. Each was happy in his own little house until that wind-bag wolf came bopping along. (It’s always the BigBad who cause all the problems, isn’t it?) Just when our porcine protagonists are settling in with a bowl of popcorn and the remote control… BADA-BOOM! Kindling.
When we’re children, we’re told that we haven’t yet begun to live. When we reach adulthood, we’re told we have our entire lives ahead of us. There’s no thought of starting over… we’re just starting.
Soon we’re filling our lives with people, places, and things that matter to us. Education, career, home, family, friends, pastimes, vacations, money, …we’re building Life.
If you build it… along comes the BigBad-Bada-Boom. Life is no longer a building. It’s a roller-coaster.
I hate starting over. There’s something doomy-gloomy about sweeping up the shattered pieces of your efforts… your pride… your hopes & dreams… and discarding them like last night’s pizza boxes. Admitting that “it ain’t happenin’”… wishing it wasn’t happening. The world seems upside-down.
And everyone you know has “wisdom” for you…
cheer up! it could be worse…
you must not have worked hard enough…
what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger…
these things happen…
They mean well. Well-meaning folks know what it feels like. Well-meaning folks think they’re giving you roses in these sentiments, but forget how thorny they are to receive. Until they get a well-meant bunch from you.
I love starting over. Clean slate. Fresh perspective. New life. It clears away the cobwebs of habit and routine and …normality (ewww!). Boredom. Endless sameness. There’s something gloomy-doomy about doing things the same way day after day after day…
Sometimes, a little death is just what the doctor ordered…so to speak.
Starting over is like life after death. Not the big “D” death that signals the end of this stage of your journey…but perhaps the death of a dream. The end of a road you’re traveling. The resounding voice telling you “None Shall Pass.”
Starting over means opportunity. It means beginning a new cycle, a new stage, a new way of being in the world. Starting over is facing the inevitable changes that come to you and affecting that change with your own intentions. That’s a mighty powerful place to be. You’re leading the parade.
Every living thing starts over. Birth-Life-Death, Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter, Sunrise-Noontide-Sunset-Midnight… each day, each moment, is a segment of the cycles of the universe, spinning out the web of Reality. In the words of Semisonic:
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.
Grieve the loss of ‘What Was’…for a little while.
Starting over is a chance to celebrate What May Be… What Will Be…
…until next time.
Jan 15, 2013 @ 12:55:00
Awe V so like a mirror it is looking at you. I too am starting over,.I don’t think you could know this because I have only really eluded to it on my blog and yet came right out and said that i was moving on .Alone.
I have left my almost 43 yr old marriage so i too am starting-over, a Fresh salt. Many firsts for me ar happening when I am also about to turn 58. I am living alone, all by myself for the first time in my life. I went from my parents home to roommates to husband. And I am digging it!
so in many ways though I have no certainly where of your starting over stems from we are echoing each other again.
I am so grateful you shared ~ May peace fill that gorgeous heart of yours ~
Jan 15, 2013 @ 13:38:41
My condolences & congratulations on your Fresh Start. Condolences that a long-time relationship has ended (always painful). Congratulations that you’re embarking on a new adventure (think of the song from Disney’s Aladdin- A Whole New World). You’re surely experiencing the highs and lows of Starting Over.
Starting Over is a daily experience, when you look closely. Each day is a blank canvas– so many possibilities and so many choices. Often, we don’t realize that we hold the paintbrush…we choose the colors & textures…we may not choose the subject matter (sometimes the Universe gives us something to think about), but we are completely in control of how we paint it.
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience, my Barefoot Friend. Showers of Blessings on you!
Jan 16, 2013 @ 20:02:50
My Dearest friend of the earth and sky,
Thank you so much for you well and good wishes. You are the first person to acknowledge this might be a positive thing. Of which it so is.
I am moving into a space in my life where the only person holding me back to anything I want would be me.
Moving into a place where I can still have a whole room devoted to my art supplies to\and work I am a happy camper..
My hopes and faith that you are doing well an know that you are often thought of. .Take care V and hope to see you again sooner than later..