A New Chapter

Good afternoon and welcome back to this afternoon's blog. Today we enter new guidelines whereby only social gatherings of 6 people or less are allowed. While I agree this is frustrating and unnecessary, the measure is there to keep us all safe so we can continue working towards a new chapter in our lives. And that perfectly leads me onto today's article - new starts. We all need them from time to time, but are often afraid by them. The uncertainty, the apprehension and the unknown can be frightening as well as exciting. If I may, I'll start with a personal story that has been developing over the past couple of weeks (I still don't know why I ask your permission for things).

So around a month ago, I was casually scrolling through various job websites (I think I was eating marshmallows and Nutella while doing this but I may be wrong). I found something that I thought sounded interesting and different. So, as you do, I applied (not expecting anything of course). Just after the closing date, I received an email asking me to attend a virtual interview one afternoon. This seemed to go alright, however, it is very difficult to gauge how things are working out over a live stream (and of course the expected lag). It was a few days later I began getting excited. I had another email and a letter inviting me to attend an assessment morning which would contain various activities to see if I was an appropriate fit for the job. I am aware this is waffling on a bit too long, so I will end by saying they offered me the job. And of course I accepted.

But what is so significant about having a fresh start? Sometimes we all need a new experience, the opportunity to meet new people, or simply just to keep our lives fresh and interesting. For me, it was a relief to have a time frame in mind and know that there is something exciting upcoming. It helps to shine a new light on life, as we begin the process of dimming out what we have lived for so long. It is a vital part of life that we get proper closure, rather than moving on too quickly and feeling like we are moving on when we still have unfinished business.

During the time between the old and the new, we should be reflective about what we are leaving behind us. Every experience we live through, no matter how discouraging they appeared to be at the time, teach us a lot about ourselves. They highlight our strengths, teach us where we must continue to develop, as well as help us to appreciate everything that we have had. Every opportunity given to us makes us a better person and enables us to improve for the future (unless you're perfect like me of course - who the hell am I kidding). In the case of a new job, we should be thankful to our previous employer for allowing us the opportunity to work for them. We make friendships for life, and every job starts of well for us, even though we often want to leave at our lowest point.

During the times we are all living in at the moment, we are all experiencing new things every day that we never thought we ever would have to live. However, rather than letting ourselves get beaten up by all the negativity and mixed messages in the news, we must learn to move forward and work together in order to establish our new normality as quickly as possible (for our own sanity at this point).So please stay safe, and remember, embrace every experience like it's your last (lovely thought to end on because why not).

See you Friday for my Premier League week 2 predictions.

Connor

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