Every Great Adventure Begins with a Departure
Every great adventure begins with a departure. Consequently, every New Year is an adventure invitation – the adventure of the rest of our lives. And for all of us, the invitations are in the mail.
Of course, most of us are curious about what is heading our way. But the question isn’t just what is heading our way, but what way are we heading. And what we are prepared to leave behind. Remember, every great adventure begins with a departure.
Moving on in one’s life is not very different from waking up in a new hotel room with all our old baggage. Unfortunately, sometimes choosing to do something negative but familiar over something positive but new doesn’t only happen to some of us, but all of us. Bottom line: Bad habits, it turns out, are just as ingrained as good habits.
The work in all our lives of course is to sort what serves us from what enslaves us. And let us make not mistake about it; all of us make mistakes, in the past and in the future. There is nothing humble about this—it’s just a fact. And those who boast that they never made a mistake also never made anything.
Getting a real makeover in life is more than cosmetic. And the New Year is a good time to think about stepping out, not just for an evening on the town, but stepping out of what is holding us back 24/7.
After a few laps around the track in my own life, I have come to acknowledge every first step on life’s adventure as a leap of faith. Of course, it is necessary to look before you leap; but it is also a good idea to remember baby steps. Baby steps can be a leap.
At the end of the day, the end of the calendar year, or the beginning of a new year, the same truth remains true: There is a difference between a passing glance in the mirror and honest self-witnessing. We can’t be honest to others if we lie to ourselves. Any lie we tell ourselves will eventually be a lie we will tell others.
To really make the New Year a new year requires each of us to candidly look at our lives—and to hasten our departure from what does not serve us. This transformation requires us not to be self-abusive but to be self-accountable.
Do not confuse beating yourself up with lifting yourself up. And do not confuse helping someone else up with telling someone else one more time why they will never get up.
New beginnings don’t need a calendar. The start date is any day that rhymes with “now.” Some day is no day. The best in you isn’t ahead of you but within you, hoping for a date, waiting for you to drop a dime.
Noah benShea
Copyright 2015 all rights reserved