STARTING OVER

There’s an old Chinese proverb that says, “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” It means that beginnings aren’t easy, and that every journey in life has to start somewhere. I don’t know where the expression, “new beginnings” comes from, because I have never experienced an old beginning.

You can put the past behind you, but as far as I know, you can’t put it ahead of you, because then you won’t know if you are coming or going. Usually a beginning comes after something ends.

When New Year’s Eve rolls around, people drink toasts to the end of the old year--- and then they toast in the new. Often, they resolve to do something better than they did the year before. However, after all of those toasts, the next day usually begins with something such as “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

Starting anew is an adventure. A baby gets the courage to take that first step when he gets bored with just crawling around. Beginnings present challenges—some are exciting and some downright scary, but dancing backwards through life just doesn’t work unless you have eyes in back of your head.

Some beginnings come from a decision to end something else---or fate makes the decision for us. When a door closes, you can’t open it again. You only think you can with selective memory. When someone says, “I miss the good old days,” I usually reply, “So you miss the Black Plague and the Inquisition?”

Sally Ber said, “The secret to getting ahead is getting started.” Of course with some people the problem arises that they have to take themselves along for the ride.

All I know is that if you wait for the perfect moment, you’ll never get started---you’ll never begin—and if you don’t begin, you’ll never get to where you need to go. Just ask any crawling baby.

Esther Blumenfeld (Inertia is a non starter)