You have a fullness you need to bring out. It’s not an emptiness you need to cover up with things…
― Ayi Kwei Armah, Fragments
We think of new beginnings when the new year rolls around, we make resolutions and we are excited for what’s to come. But how about making new beginnings when the time is right for you? In a year, in a lot of societies, there are four distinct seasons: autumn, winter, spring and summer – but not here in the Caribbean! If there are four seasons why should we limit our season of new beginnings to one time of the year?
What if we did not wait for a new calendar year to roll around to let go and free ourselves of past disappointments, failures, and regrets? There shouldn’t be a timeline on when to make a fresh start. When something stops working do we continue as if it’s business as usual? Therefore, why should we be restricted to an unfulfilling present when we can mature into a situation that holds a greater chance of us optimizing our potential? When we do not actively pursue the opportunities for new beginnings, we have become our own jailers. When we tenaciously hold on to that burning building, we are killing ourselves, and there is no one to blame for this untimely death, but the person looking back in the mirror.
Instead, we need to assemble our own caravan and begin our new season, when it is right for us. For it is impossible to move on the plans of another person, because those plans have been tailor made for them by the creator. To do so would be to always be in the shadows of sunset and not the glow of dawn. But we should also remember that as we step into this new season, we may have to leave some of our treasures and misbegotten gains behind, (friends, family members and even some well loved but of course destructive nemeses). But most importantly, as we begin to step forward we need to ensure that we leave all brokenness behind in our yesterdays. Instead we may have to look out for persons and signposts that can get us to where we need to be in this new season. Find others who have also been enlightened to the truth of seizing the moment and stepping into new situations.
And if you are still afraid to believe in your new season, remember the words in Isaiah 43:18-19
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
― Ayi Kwei Armah
ramblrWrites.com 