Change is one of life’s most alluring and frightening inevitabilities. When we feel as though we can control it, change can feel invigorating, much like the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. But take that control away, and those transformations can feel overwhelming and even threatening.
Yet in both cases, we have little to no authority over what circumstances befall us, and it’s up to our perspective and subsequent actions to determine whether those inescapable shifts will affect us for the worse or for the better.
There are countless ways to celebrate change, whether that’s honoring the passage of another year on New Year’s Eve or commemorating a milestone birthday. And indeed, there are just as many ways to acknowledge and hold space for the grief that the closing of one of life’s chapters can sometimes elicit.
The very essence of change requires moving on to something new, something that will take the place of the old. Scary as it may sometimes be, change offers invaluable opportunities for us to learn, grow, and come out on the other side as stronger, wiser, and more authentic people.
These quotes about starting fresh serve as helpful reminders to focus on the positive possibilities of change, no matter if you’re celebrating, mourning, or in the middle of it.
What we call the beginning is often the end / And to make an end is to make a beginning. / The end is where we start from.T.S. Eliot
You raze the old to raise the new.Justina Chen
I thank the universe / for taking / everything it has taken / and giving to me / everything it is giving.Rupi Kaur
On this new mornin’ with you / So happy just to be alive / Underneath the sky of blue.Bob Dylan
There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.Louis L’Amour
I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.Herman Melville
You can start anew at any given moment. Life is just the passage of time and it’s up to you to pass it as you please.Charlotte Eriksson
The chief beauty about the constant supply of time is that you cannot waste it in advance. The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoilt, as if you had never wasted or misapplied a single moment.Arnold Bennett
If you truly wish to change what is without, you must first change what festers within.Richelle E. Goodrich
Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need / For this bright morning dawning for you. / History, despite its wrenching pain, / Cannot be unlived, but if faced / With courage, need not be lived again.Maya Angelou
Don’t wait until conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes conditions perfect.Alan Cohen
For what it’s worth, it’s never too late, or in my case, too early, to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing.Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Destruction is essential to construction. If we want to build the new, we must be willing to let the old burn.Glennon Doyle
Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.Martin Luther King Jr. (as repeated by Marian Wright Edelman)
In the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) in “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”
Featured image credit: stock35/ Shutterstock
