This isn’t perfectly written, so please forgive me…

It’s true when they say, “there’s no time like the present” when it comes to change. The best time for new beginnings is NOW. I’ve learned from experience the longer you wait, the more bogged down you become. You let your surroundings and situations control you. You become a prisoner of your own well-being. 

So what’s got you down? It could be a number of things: a creative rut, a personal circumstance that you can’t get past, family drama, problems with a significant other, your weight or self confidence issues, a dead end at work, etc. When you make a strong step towards starting something new, you begin the process of pulling yourself out of that familiar (and dark) little hole you’ve come to know.

Since 2018 I’ve found it really hard to get motivated when it comes to my blog. It used to be second nature to me, and it was part of my daily routine. Unfortunately too much “real life” happened between then and now, and all of the clutter and chaos interrupted my plans.

Every time I thought I was starting a new beginning, it was honestly a false alarm. I wasn’t quite ready to hit GO. I was still too far down in the abyss of “life is really hard right now” kind-of-crap. I still felt the anxiety of waiting by the phone for a call that would alter our lives, and I was plagued by the what if’s every time Evan walked out of the door. I still needed my therapist every other week. I was searching for personal confidence to accept the past, accept my story, and turn the page to write a new chapter. Truth be told, I had grown too comfortable deep in my hole.

If you ask me, I think we all operate from these three “hole phases”. I don’t know where I got this whole “hole thing”, but stick with me here. The three phases are: deep in the hole, trying to climb out of the hole, and surviving outside of the hole. We never fully forget the hole, and unfortunately the cycle of life some times brings us right back to the hole.

There will definitely be things that happen in life, causing us to step backwards and want to jump headfirst right into that damn hole again. It’s what you do when you are faced with the real-life issues that counts. Do you confront it head on, or do you revert to the hole? I like to think that the hole teaches you something powerful. Too powerful to want to go back. My hope for myself and for all of us, is that we stray away from the hole and use what it taught us and apply it to our future. Ultimately, your knowledge from experiences armors you for the next phase of life, and the new beginning.

I don’t really have a true purpose for writing this today. I think it’s been weighing on my heart for some time now, especially with the New Year. For anyone that is stuck deep down in their hole, I hope you’re reading this and that you take a strong step forward today. It could be the new beginning you’ve been yearning for, and you’re one step closer to rising to the surface. Once you’re out you’re going to do some good in the world. You’re rising above to a new beginning. You’re inspiring others to claw their way out of the hole too.

I guess writing this post is a step out of my own hole. Slowly but surely I will rise up from 2018 and make 2020 my b*tch. Go get ’em girls (and guys reading). You’ve got this, we’ve ALL got this. Cheers to new beginnings!

XO, ALEX