New beginnings are exhausting. The reason they are exhausting is that we stand on the old to build the new. The past weights our steps with the mucky remains of yesterday and all the yesterdays that have come before. We might not be able to see where we’re going as we push forward. We fuel ourselves with the hope of a better tomorrow as each day comes and goes without an end in sight.

And then one day, we lift our heads from the work. We look around at this new place where we stand and wonder when exactly did it change? We wonder if we somehow missed something. We didn’t miss anything. That is how new beginnings work. It’s not the effort we put into building the new that matters as much as it is the effort we give to leaving the old behind. We shake the dust from our feet and move forward. We’re not moving towards a place without dust, we’re leaving that specific dust behind us.

New beginnings require leaving things behind. Eventually, a few things left behind become more things and then they become almost everything, which will end up also being set aside. It’s uncomfortable shedding our skin. But the snake doesn’t become a new snake after shedding its skin. It continues as the self that was already under its old skin that was waiting for its time to emerge.

Whether it’s a move to a new place, a change in a relationship, a new direction in life, or something on a bigger scale, new beginnings are happening all around us. Leaving the past requires us to step away from what makes up our current lives and step forward. Each step we take away makes a new day and a new world. The cumulative results of millions of small choices are what we will one day see with wonder.