When I say these two words, “New Beginnings,” images or moments may pop into your head. None of them have anything to do with me, nor could I fathom what they could be. Several pop into my mind too and you will never know what they are, unless I told you (mind your own business!). Yet due to the unimaginable complexity of the human brain here we are; me in the past, my present, writing this and you in the present, my future, reading this; and we both know exactly what it is these two words refer to.
When we think of new beginnings, often times it involves a character in a movie carrying a medium- sized trunk, ready to run away and become an actress or a singer in Hollywood. Let’s face it; we all want to be the person who can just pack the most basic of items from their own life and hope to start a new one, without looking back. In our heads, we are this person. We are all dreamers. But there is always something holding us back (any actual singing or acting ability might possibly be a minute factor involved). And so, we ignore the little things we do on a daily basis that can be considered a fresh start.
Little things like setting a goal to read at least one book every month for the next year, or even calling your parents at least once a week rather than the obligatory monthly call. This one comes in super handy when you need money because now they won’t anticipate it like they did before: “Oh God it’s not the first of the month yet and Thando is already calling us. He clearly needs money”. It’s fool proof! These little things don’t change anything immediately, and most times not even visibly, but over time they do make our lives far more fulfilling, or at the very least it makes parents a lot more gullible. And really, what more could you want from a fresh start?
We also have a tendency of associating new beginnings with recent failure. Think of anything resembling motivational speaking or self-help books – nine times out of 10 they will preach the importance of getting up after falling down. I don’t like giving up just as much as the next person, but sometimes there’s nothing wrong and no huge disappointment. I just want sprinkles on my ice-cream. It would still be amazing without them, but they just elevate it to heavenly.
I’ve had a new beginning of sorts recently, and by recently I mean this past weekend. I moved from Observatory to a whopping five minutes away in Mowbray. In general, moving is usually quite a big deal but in my case this does not change much: I still go to the same university, I still travel in the same manner, I still buy the same food and wear the same clothes, and I still have the same friends. Yet my landing in this new pool will lead to a rippling effect I cannot yet imagine with people I am yet to meet. These people could be my roommates or perhaps people they know. Friend of my friend is…my friend? Maybe acquaintance at best. Events will pan out completely differently simply because I’ve changed the location of my lair, and yes I will continue to call my rented room a lair.
This is nothing new to me – leaving home and travelling the length of the country to go to school has me accustomed to new experiences because I have them all the time. I have had a variety of ‘firsts’ in this city and with people whom, only a year and a half ago, were strangers to me but are now some of the most important people in my life. I sometimes imagine myself as a young Robert Frost, constantly choosing a pathway only to be presented with the next Yellowwood.
Anyway, returning to the present, and possibly the most currently relevant of new beginnings, and the one we all dread after a week-long vacation we spent doing nothing: it’s the beginning of a new term. Cheer up! We only have a load of assignments, tests, and eventually exams (I use eventually in the relative sense because we write in less than a month and a half). There is also the underlying uncertainty we all experience during this time of the year due to the protests of recent years. But it is also an opportunity to make up for all the procrastination I know we, myself included, have been perfecting in the last seven months of this crazy year. Whatever new beginnings may mean to you, it’s time to get off your bed, dust those chip crumbs off your shirt, and start attending those tuts – lectures, on the other hand, are another matter.