It’s Okay to Start Over

When you become stuck in life, one strategy that you have at your disposal is to start over again with a blank canvas. You can hit the reset button and pursue a goal or dream that you’ve never tried before.

A 4 year degree attained after 7 years is still a degree. A graduation at 50 is still a graduation. A business started at 65 is still a business.

You are never too old to have a new dream… It’s okay to start over. Don’t let people confine you with their timelines of success. — Brigette Hyacinth

What can stop us from starting over is becoming obsessed with timelines. Other people impart their view of when we must start something by or when it’s too late to start over. The truth is it’s never too late.

I didn’t start a career in technology until I was in my 30’s. The relationship I had with myself was toxic for 2/3’s of my life. The status of my health was worse in my 20’s than it is in my 30’s.

Who says you can’t start again?

You say that — to yourself. That forced commitment to keep doing something that you know is broken comes from a few places:

• A fear of screwing up
• A belief someone else implanted in your brain unconsciously
• The expectations of your inner-circle

The beauty of starting over is that you can reject all of that. You can write your own damn permission slip to start again! You can quit your current life and start again whenever you want.

What you can’t do is time travel to the past and remove the dumb decision you made, not to start again, that you’ll later regret from the rocking chair of your front porch; when you’re old and grey and you’re grandchildren are building dirt sandcastles a few feet away from your slippers while you patiently wait for the Grim Reaper to take you away from the cancer that has already begun robbing you of life.

If they can do it, so can you

Gladys Burrill spent most of her life as a pilot, climber of mountains and an avid rider of horses.

At 86, she had a change of heart. All of that was cool but she wanted a new start. So she began running marathons. At the age of 92, she completed a marathon in Hawaii and went straight into the record books because of it.

As a young actor, Harrison Ford struggled to find decent acting roles. To stop himself from taking poor opportunities that would hurt his future, he started a new career on the side as a carpenter.

At 29, he got a role in an unknown George Lucas Film called American Graffiti after he struck up a conversation with the now-famous director while building cabinets for him in George’s home.

Harrison Ford’s big break didn’t happen until 6 years later when he was 35 and featured in the movie Star Wars.

At 41, Jill Sherer Murray left her boyfriend of 12 years and a stale job corporate job, and moved back to her hometown.

Before the big move, she was writing on the side. After starting all over again with nothing, she found a new man and got engaged, created a well-known blog and became a freelance writer without the prison handcuffs of a lifeless corporate job that previously stole her creativity.

It won’t be easy and nothing worth achieving ever is

The first few days of starting over will be rough. You’ll have doubts and the relationship with yourself might be a little shaky. There will be obstacles and blockers of your dream that you could never have imagined and that’s perfectly normal.

A new beginning will feel fresh on some days and like a mistake on others. All you can do is keep going and back yourself. That which is reborn always comes out just a tiny bit better and more experienced for what is to come.

You will need courage and you’ll be required to act without necessarily knowing what steps you need to take.

There will be critics and people that will happily take a dump in the comment section of you talking about your new beginning. That’s okay. Forgive them.

The fact that starting again is tough for us all is what makes the process so worth it. When you’ve got to rebuild because you’ve torn up your former life into small, little pieces, the only option is to keep going and don’t look back unless it’s to remember a lesson you learned.

There is no set age you need to achieve a goal by. It might take you more time or less time to have kids, or write a book, or find the right career or find the love of your life, and that is completely okay. Everyone is living their life on a different timeline and yours has been custom-built and tailored especially for you so it fits just right.

If you are pulled towards the idea of starting again, do it. Do what is right for you and embrace the fear of starting over with the magic that you’ll receive in the form of uncertainty and taking responsibility for your life.

It’s never too late to start.

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