Beginning Again

 

An exercise from The Writer’s Retreat Kit 

Beginnings and Endings

“Write about beginning again.”

June 2005 was the end of one life and the beginning of a new one for me.  Having disposed of all my worldly goods excepting that which fit into a 6’ x 12’ U-Haul trailer and my Chevy Tahoe, I was about to make a solo road trip of 1500 miles to a state I had never been in, to an apartment I had never seen, engaged to a man 4000 miles away with whom I had spent less than one week. 

Tahoe and U-Haul hitched together those final few days, I stayed at home unless I walked to a destination or a friend came by to take me out for a meal.  There was a lot of that going on, lots of good-byes.  It was as if I were leaving this world.

About 24 hours prior to my departure, I began feeling “not right” physically.  There were no specific symptoms; no signs of an illness, per se.

Explaining my uneasiness to a dear friend and shaman, she laughed and told me everything was fine; I was simply dying.

Dying?!?!

Yes, it was the death of one life and the birth of another, symbolically, spiritually and physically.

Understanding this, I felt not only physically better but excited about my upcoming solo cross-country road trip.  Provided with some visualization exercises to help with the process, I rolled out of my driveway the morning of departure thinking of my walled driveway as a birth tunnel.  My three-day journey to northern Minnesota became an adventure with the promise of my new life ahead.

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We all reinvent ourselves throughout our lives, sometimes by choice and at other times through circumstances presented to us.  Do you shudder and panic with the thought of major life changes or do you welcome them with open arms and the excitement of what Life has in store for you?   Do you look at each new day as an opportunity to reinvent yourself?

Thanks for stopping by!  Now go write!