After coming out of a thick depression, I find myself wondering the answer to this question: how do you begin again? Because the truth is this: I know that I wasn’t showing up as myself for a good majority of this year. I was not living up to my full potential. I spent a good chunk of the last few months just coasting through life fighting to stay alive.
But now that the fog is clearing up, I find myself wondering where to go from here. Because I didn’t quit on myself. I am still here. I was still showing up for all of my goals even if it wasn’t fully 100%. So while I know I didn’t quit, why does it feel like I am starting over again?
I hesitate to even say that I am starting over because it is more like just picking up from where I left off, however I know that this new chapter requires a different vision. A greater vision than before. So as the vision shifts for what comes next, I suppose it is only fair that my expectations of myself start to shift as well.
No matter what journey you are on, be it health, fitness, trying to conceive (TTC), going to college, starting a business – there might come a point in time along the road where you have to pivot. Where you have to reimagine or redirect your energy so that you can fulfill the greater purpose in the journey that you are on.
When faced with the “how to begin again” question, you have to realize where your new starting point is. No matter what happened that got you feeling off course, you still made progress. You are no longer the same person that started at the very beginning of this journey, so why would you hold yourself to the same standard?
The way you measure your success has to evolve. What do you know now that you didn’t know then? How can you take what you have learned and let it shape the way you approach this new leg of the journey? Whether you experienced grief, loss, depression, sorrow, happiness and/or joy, all of those moments can teach you something. They have made you into the woman you are now.
So when you begin again, have compassion for yourself. Ask God to reveal to you the next steps and give you the energy to keep walking. The inner strength that you gain from your battle will propel you through all the future battles to come. To begin again is never to start over. It is to shift your perspective onto greater things that are yet to come.
So what can you do to begin again? In summary, check in with yourself in the following areas:
- Adjust your expectations
- Embrace the pivot
- Progress is progress no matter how small
- Redefine how you measure success
- Examine the lessons you have learned
- How will this new chapter be different?
- Have compassion and be kind to yourself