New Beginnings: Starting the Next Chapter of Your Life
How to Start the Next Chapter in Your Life
Starting the next chapter in your life is an interesting concept to contemplate. If you live a full life, this is probably something you will experience 3-10 times throughout your lifetime, with or without choice. This is because we all grow, evolve, and change over time. Sometimes, as we want to better ourselves and our current situation, we will begin a new chapter in our life without much thought. It is just a part of evolving.
Other times, we may not be happy with our current situation and force a fresh start; a blank slate in the story that is your life. This could be done by moving to a foreign state or country, for example. Regardless of how or why you are beginning the next chapter of your life, it is a big step for any human being. We are creatures of habit after all and starting something new is a life-changing event that will disrupt the common norm. You might be starting the next chapter of your life if you are:
- Getting married
- Having kids
- Moving somewhere new
- Starting a new job/career/business
- Beginning school or university
- Getting out of a long-term relationship
- Doing anything impactful and life-changing
These are all big events and usually exciting situations. Of course, with this kind of intense excitement will come feelings of anxiety as well. Also, you might face many obstacles along the way. For example, you might exhibit feelings of loneliness when moving somewhere foreign or you might have imposter syndrome when starting a new job.
How to Embrace Starting the Next Chapter
The good news is that this type of change usually will impact your life in a positive way. For example, starting university is a big new chapter for many people. It might be their first time away from home or living on their own so it will teach them a lot of responsibility. Also, it might be the first time they really begin to apply themselves and show what they are capable of accomplishing academically, and even socially. It will even force them to think about their future, what they want to be, and the direction that they want their life to go in.
Going to university and getting a degree definitely has a lot of benefits and can help you tremendously in life when utilized efficiently. However, there is still a lot of uncertainty and fear that any student will face.
Thinking about your future, especially for the first time, is a big ask of anybody at any age. This holds true for any big life-altering event. With the excitement comes the fear. So I am here to tell you…
Embrace both the excitement and the fear.
How to Embrace the Excitement
Embrace the excitement. This part is easy. Let the potential for new opportunities in this chapter of your life energize you. Get ready to challenge yourself and find out how much you can accomplish. The possibilities are endless. A new chapter is a blank page, and you are the author of your life ready to fill in the words. This should be something to be incredibly excited about.
How to Embrace the Fear
Embrace the fear. This part is more difficult. Fear is a weak emotion. We do not like feeling scared. Even more so, we hate feeling uncertain. There is a lot of uncertainty with starting the next chapter of your life:
What if I mess up writing on that blank page?
I’m writing in pen I can’t go back and erase any mistakes.
What if the way I write my life turns out not to be what I actually want?
There is a lot of freedom in moving onto the next stage of your life, but with that freedom comes room for error.
We must accept that mistakes and errors are a part of life and that they will happen to the best of us. If we do not embrace the fear and possibility of messing up, we will never show any progress. We owe it ourselves to embrace both the good and the bad of starting something new and take it head-on.
Good luck!
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