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Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

#8/100

I’m always excited for every new beginning, be it a new month, new year or even a new book for that matter. During my school days, the start of every new term thrilled me to bits. New term meant starting afresh, new books, new classes, new people, basically turning over a new leaf. All past mistakes, hiccups, misfortune takes a back seat and there’s renewed hope for the future.

You get innumerous opportunities to start afresh in your life. However, I tend to leave things unfinished when they don’t go as per plan. I am a self confessed perfectionist. Please don’t confuse a perfectionist as to someone who ‘likes‘ to be perfect. The dictionary meaning of a perfectionist is “a person who refuses to accept any standard short of perfection“. Do you think it’s a good thing to be a perfectionist? A perfectionist has an extremely low tolerance for any flaws whatsoever. Anything that falls short of their idea of perfection is thrown out of the window without being given a second chance. If we consider a simple example of studying for an exam, a perfectionist would want to go through the thickest book on the subject, study everything thoroughly, take an insanely long amount to cover everything. They either burn out completely by the mid of it leaving things unfinished or end up doing a great job at it if they manage to complete it. Things gradually changed once I became more at peace with my natural self, complete with my imperfections and shortcomings. It was a slow, organic process of self introspection and discovery that took a long time to manifest into the person that I currently am. I also became less concerned with the thoughts and comments of people who were critical of my journey of self growth. I realized their judgments stemmed from their own sense of insecurity and didn’t positively impact my life.

New beginnings are great, they give everyone a fresh new start, a fresh new hope. Our existence and this world is built on hope, hope for a better future. That’s the reason people are exhilarated by the end of a year and celebrate it joyously. Every new resolution, timetable, purchase, course is scheduled at the beginning of a new day/week/month/year. Embracing change requires a great deal of self motivation and the lure of a fresh start somehow instills a sense of hope in people.

I always used to wait for a new month to schedule all my new habits. However, a year and a half ago, I embarked on my weight loss journey in the middle of a week on an impulse and that has been one of the best decisions of my life. Not only did I stuck through my resolve till I reached my desired weight, I was consistent throughout. So what was different this time? My intense desire to accomplish my goal. I just couldn’t wait for a new week or month to embark on the journey I was so passionate about. I realized that all these years, I just hid behind the facade of a “fresh start” to stay cooped up in my comfort zone. We just need to keep our mind focused on the journey, bring us back to the process when the mind starts seeking results, keep the mind busy and happy by giving it interim rewards, read, live and breath positive affirmations to keep the hope held high for the future. Since I speak from my personal experience of accomplishing a goal that I once believed was impossible for me, faith and hope can work wonders in your life. Always find ways to reinstate your hope and your life will flourish.