Journal

At some point in time, all of us will face seemingly insurmountable challenges in life. Lost jobs. Failed marriages. Health issues.

I often don’t quite know what to say – maybe because I have faced many of the same challenges in my own life. “Keep your chin up!” “Things will get better!” “Hang in there!” “It’s always darkest…,” etc.However cheerfully offered up, these words seem empty and can fall a little flat. It is difficult to offer words of hope to someone when all they feel is hopeless. They expect answers, a magic wand, or a roadmap to get them back on their feet again.

So, what do you say?

When people facing difficult life challenges ask me for advice, I have found two simple words that carry a lot of promise –

“Begin again.”

It almost sounds too simple. I imagine in the darkest hours of one’s life, those words might even seem useless or uncaring. But I think they really are the answer.

When a life challenge brings about an ending – look for the opportunity of a new beginning.

A job loss presents an opportunity to start over somewhere else and maybe even in another career. Begin again.

A failed marriage does not mean you are through loving or being loved. It means there are others just like you needing to be loved. “Begin again.”

A life-threatening disease does not mean giving up. It means starting a new path to recovery and discovering within yourself the ability to fight. “Begin again.”

And as I learned from my husband as he faced the final days of a tumultuous cancer battle, if you are a person of faith, even death does not mean it’s over. It means “to begin again.”

As a recent widower, I’ve had to contemplate what it means to step forward into my “new normal.” A seemingly insurmountable challenge. With time, I have found inspiration in the idea that you never fail in life, unless you stop trying. So, here’s to the opportunity of a new beginning. “Begin again.”

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