Welcoming New Beginnings in 2024

A Reflection on Embracing Change and Shaping a Future Narrative - By Lucy Perkins

Reading time: 4 minutes

As the dawn of a new year approached, a sudden impulse guided me to rearrange my bedroom. Shifting frames to new positions on my wall, decluttering, and revitalizing the space became a priority. I aimed to create a fresh focal point that would inspire me during various activities – be it practicing yoga*, reading in my armchair, studying at my desk, or indulging in watercolor painting at my easel.

This act triggered a strong childhood memory of regularly spending entire days rearranging my room, rediscovering possessions, and shifting furniture to new positions. It was an instinctive urge that I took great pride and enjoyment in, reflecting an internal need to shift my perspective, thoughts, and energy – a chosen moment of change.

Throughout my life, my relationship with change has oscillated between acceptance and resistance. There were times when I sought to control outcomes, predict the future, and cling to a need for certainty. However, recent years have witnessed a softening of this relationship, as I now embrace change, whether initiated by myself or in response to external elements.

I perceive change as a necessary shift in momentum, a release, and a birthing of new ideas and viewpoints on life. This evolving mindset has fostered a deeper trust and respect for the lessons that change can offer.

Looking ahead, I've made plans for significant changes, envisioning a journey to travel and live in Canada from August 2024, taking advantage of a visa granting me up to two years. Forming connections with people, places, and defining my purpose for this trip fills me with bright, joyful, expansive sensations.

This forward-thinking approach allows me to appreciate and settle into my current life – my nursery teaching job, yoga teaching, family, friendships, boyfriend, hobbies, rental flat, and community in North London.

I recognize that I have everything I need in the present moment, having sculpted a stable and contented lifestyle. Yet, I anticipate a necessary, healing, exciting, and adventurous change on the horizon – one that will challenge and inspire me.

This impending transformation calls for an embrace of the encouragement that change can bring, not only within myself but also in others. It demands a partnership with uncertainty and a warm welcome to the unknown. My ability to grasp the small elements of change, such as de-cluttering and creating new perspectives, has allowed me to visualise my desired future and create the mental space needed to take steps toward this vision.

Confident in my internal resilience, strength, and awareness, I am prepared to create changes that elevate my understanding and appreciation of myself and the world. To travel, in my view, is to embody change – seeking out new sights, personalities, cultures, and memories. I am poised and ready for this adventure come August 2024, a gift I am currently wrapping for myself.

The unwrapping process will be slow, intentional, and filled with care, awe, gratitude, and grace, revealing parts of myself I have yet to meet. I look forward to exploring wide-open spaces in the external world and within my internal mind, body, heart, and soul.

Meeting the inevitable, intentional, and inspiring role of changes in my life with a perspective of openness and curiosity, I invite you to consider how you will create, embrace, and accept changes in your life for 2024.

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