New Beginnings
Normally we refer to a new beginning when we are closing what seems like a chapter in our life.
“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
This means that a new beginning is not certain, and that we may not to be completely secure it is the right path. It just means we want to start afresh, trying to make sense of where we are… approaching the “place” where we want to go. It does not mean to forget what has happened or disregard how we find ourselves where we are. It means we need to remember and to learn from our experiences and our feelings, evoking what was useful, what was painful, what was challenging, bringing to mind our mistakes and taking into account our triumphs, even when they are small, so we can start again.
At the first anniversary of the lock down in the UK due to Covit-19, this is an important anniversary. For many people this has been the most complex experience they have got in their lives, not brought about by a physical war, a tsunami, the eruption of a volcano, a nuclear disaster or a market collapse, but caused by an invisible enemy in the shape of a virus, difficult to understand and to fight against.
The question is, what do we want to do know? Where do we want to go after such a vexing experience?
Do we want to go back to the same place where we were when this difficult year started?
We may need to concentrate our attention on what has made our life better since last year… What has been really important for surviving in a constructive manner despite of the struggles? What has made us smile and feel in peace?
For surviving we, human beings, require a number of physical and mental conditions. We also need to feel useful, loved, cared for. Many of these essentials have been tested by the circumstances of the virus. We may need to learn to live our lives with caution and precautionary measures that become permanent in our future lives.
Patients with cancer, as well as many other patients affected by discontinued treatments and fear of contagion have been marked constantly by the conditions in a medical system approaching breakdown. The medical teams around the world have been endlessly stretched up to and many times above their physical and mental capacities. The less fortunate all around us, especially those who have less protection and no options but to go out to work or who have lost their jobs, have suffered greatly. The pain is all around us.
We are facing a new beginning. If the vaccines work and keep working in the near future, we may be the lucky survivors of a really powerful experience.
What do we want to remember? What do we want to focus on for the new stage in our lives? With whom do we want to share the best of us?
“It’s never too late to become who you want to be. I hope you live a life that you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
I wish you all the best in your new beginnings.
