Fresh Start

Leaf it alone, man.

This weekend one of my bestest friends told me she’s moving to the UK. In a month. She’s decided to up and leave and try something new in the Greatest of the Britains. And while of course I am sad about how much I will miss her, I’m pretty stoked for her. Because she’s made a big decision - she’s turning a new leaf, taking the plunge and other such metaphors.

Her news got me thinking about fresh starts.

I think it’s easy to say that people need a fresh start to erase their history. They need to get away from some of their more foolish mistakes, or from people who know them too well, or maybe they just “can’t cope” with “real life” and need to “run away”. And I don’t know, maybe that’s true of some people. Criminals, mostly, and people who voted for Campbell Newman. But I think trying for a fresh start is one of the bravest things you can do.

Given the chance, I think most people will not actually do that much reinventing in a new place. They won’t go by a new name, or affect an accent or suddenly pretend to be really into jazz music. In my experience, starting fresh in actually gives you the opportunity to be the youest you possible. People might not know your history, but they’ll still get to know the real you, because in a new place you’re suddenly in a position to set the record straight. There are no rumours, no preconceived notions, no vague memories of something you might have said once. You’re able to present the reality of yourself, unhindered by any other baggage you might have collected while you were trying to work out what that reality was.

Change is good. Adaptability is good. But sometimes it’s hard to change when you’re surrounded by people who’ve known you a while. You might even feel hypocritical, if you’ve changed a lot recently. But it’s all about learning. You learn about the world, you learn about yourself, and unfortunately sometimes, you learn through mistakes. A fresh start gives you that wonderful chance to take everything you’ve learnt, and make it a part of you without anyone wondering why you’ve suddenly changed your mind about fashionable clothes or politics.

And it’s not just big changes to England (or even to little old Dalby). You can make a fresh start in a new job, a new uni course, a new friendship. In fact I would argue that every day you have an opportunity, small as it might be, to start afresh in some aspect of your life. It’s the ultimate form of self-betterment. In fact, “self-betterment” is kind of a stupid phrase, and hard to say. It’s not about becoming better; it’s about becoming you. The you that you want to be. The you you’ve always been able to be. The real you. You you.

Safe travels, you.