I love the word begin. It’s the start of everything new. We just…begin. The word creates a hopeful, excited state, and, at the same time, it can bring feelings of fear. B is for Begin in the Blogging A to Z Challenge. Perhaps I should have started the challenge with B?? But for now, it’s time to begin.
I used to have a hard time with Beginnings. Always hesitant, fearful of failure. I’ve gotten better around them with time. It’s why I named my blog Unfold and Begin. It’s a reminder that I need to head into new things (new beginnings) while standing tall, not folded up as if to remain hidden.
One of the categories on my blog is called Begin Something New. And there you will find Starting Over Interviews. All the posts are interviews with women who’ve either had to or decided to start over. Whether it was a career change, a divorce, a move, or a health crisis each woman detailed how they began again.
Don’t let age stop you, you are as young as you are ever going to be right now.
Cheri
Above is one of my favorite quotes from one of those interviews. It was with my friend Cheri in How She Mastered the Art of Career Change. It’s a fascinating interview with a woman who changed her career not once but twice in midlife.
Some are afraid to begin because the size of a project scares them. The secret to that is to break a project down into smaller steps and start on the first one and finish that before you move on to the next. In other words, how do you eat a whale? One bite at a time.
Another saying for that is bird by bird. I was first introduced to that phrase from the show Ted Lasso, and if you’re not watching it, you’re missing out on one of the best things that ever came out of the pandemic. The phrase is the title of the book about writing, Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott. In it, she explains how her brother had 3 months to write a report about birds but never started it until the night before it was due. He was crying over how he would ever do it when his father said to him, “bird by bird.”
That’s the secret, bird by bird or one bite at a time. Break your big project into smaller parts. It’s time to begin.
Stephen King said that the hardest part is just before you begin 🙂
Ronel visiting for B:
My Languishing TBR: B
Birds of Faerie
It really is hard to begin. And once you get going, you wonder why it took so long to get started!
Congrats! you have begun. And now, you will be on a roll!
Beth
https://bethlapinsatozblog.wordpress.com/
Thanks, Beth.
The same way you eat an elephant: one bite at a time.
Oooh, that’s so much smaller than a whale!
I agree that beginning is the hardest part of any project. I have a lot of decluttering to do and it’s so hard to get started. I wish you luck in your unfolding. I am also hoping this comment goes through. I’ve been having problems on certain WordPress blogs and I tried commenting on another post and I was told it would not be accepted. I wanted to thank you for visiting my A to Z blog.
Thanks for stopping by, Alana. Pick up one thing and decide to what to do with it (get rid of it, give it away, or keep it.) One thing at a time, one bite at a time, one bird at a time.