New Beginnings

The calendar on the wall says fall has arrived; however, my mind is contemplating spring. Not because I’m wishing for a startover of warm weather (although that would be nice), but rather because of a feeling that spring gave me earlier this year. Spring has never been my favorite, or even second favorite, season. But this year, something different was in the air.

In the early days of spring, I was sitting in the car at a drive-thru and my attention turned to some small flowers pushing their way up through the winter soil. I then noticed small colorful buds on bushes and miniature green growth on trees. Nature was starting to become alive again, offering a new beginning.

Spring is often associated with new life — new beginnings. So I started thinking about how I have viewed new beginnings throughout my life. They have usually been associated with the calendar – New Year’s Day, the first of the month, Mondays. I’m not talking about significant life events like weddings and babies, but rather that point when many of us are most likely to make changes in our lives.

It occurred to me that, all too often, we wait for the calendar to tell us when to change when, in actuality, we could make changes any day. We don’t have to wait until New Year’s Eve to make a resolution. We don’t have to wait until the first day of the next month to start looking for a job. We don’t have to wait until Monday to start that diet. We can choose to do it anytime – we just need to choose to do it.

How wonderful it is to know that every day we wake up, we have a new opportunity to change ourselves for the better. We can certainly set our goal for a major change like seeking a new job, buying a house, or losing weight. We can also seek smaller changes — being more patient, smiling more, offering an act of kindness.

I certainly have a lot of things on my list of changes to make. What changes will YOU make tomorrow?

Share the strength.

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