The idea of Starting Over, especially as you get older, seems like something to avoid at all costs, but there are times when we are faced with these scenarios - and sometimes they aren’t even choices, but situations we are thrust into.  

In my last, and first email to you from Faerie Dust Emporium, I mentioned I lost both my Etsy Shops at the hands of hackers.  I was faced with the decision to either quit the business or rebuild it.  Quitting the business seemed like much more of an ordeal than Starting Over.  What would I do with all the inventory?  I would lose touch with those of you with whom I have worked closely over time.  I felt like I was letting my customers down and my future seemed to be a big blank canvas.  At 71 years old, that seemed daunting.

I was telling my brother about the whole story of being hacked and losing my shops.  He had these simple words for me, “Well, Chris, it could be worse”.  These words stopped me in my tracks.  Yes, things could be worse, and I was ok, other than feeling somewhat “beat up” from the whole ordeal.

The choice was made to Start Over, but in retrospect, was it really Starting Over or was it Beginning Again?  As I started re-creating my business again, I realized that starting over means starting from scratch, not having past experience to draw upon, not having learned from both my mistakes and successes, and trying to maintain the status quo. Beginning Again means taking what you have learned and using it as an opportunity to make things better the next time.  It is a new chance to re-assess and re-address how to do things differently, keeping the things that work and pitching things that don’t.  New beginnings are a way to evaluate how you have done things in the past and decide how to move on in a better, more informed way.  

Beginning Again also shows us there is really no “status quo” in life.  In an Economics class I took once, my teacher quoted Mikhail Gorbachev who stated that “If you aren’t moving forward, you are moving backwards”.  Although he was using that quote to describe the behavior of economics, I have found this quote to be true with life in general.  You are either moving forward, as that is what life does, or you are trying to hold on to the past, which is already gone. Ever heard the term, “Grasping at Straws?”  

Sometimes, if you enjoy a challenge, Starting Over is good, too.  Why not?  It is always an opportunity to start learning from scratch, for a change of pace if needed and/or wanting to seek totally unknown new horizons.  However, we still draw from our experience as we go, hopefully having already formed a plausible blueprint to guide us throughout our lives.

With the New Year fast approaching, it will be rife with opportunities for New Beginnings.  I believe it is good for restoring the soul and it keeps one young, so take stock of and recognize how much you know already.  Here’s to New Beginnings, or Beginning Again, where’er it may take ye!  Thanks for flying in to see us and Happy New Year!