As my new crystal flew off the kitchen table, I had a slow-mo “nooooo” before seeing it bounce off the floor. 

Look, I’m not your local crystal gal, but I like the idea of physical objects representing our intentions. When it comes to the “take what you want and leave the rest” perspective, that’s the part I choose to take from crystals.

This particular crystal was a “new beginnings” stone that was supposed to “soothe emotional instability” for smoother beginnings. I liked that idea.

But does all that woo-woo goodness leak out if you break it??

Fortunately, the damage wasn’t too bad. Just a little rough where it had chipped.

The following week, I hit “publish” on a blog after being in a writing drought. I hadn’t (and haven’t) been writing as much since I got a full-time job. I had finally gotten back to writing. But for whatever reason, the email that was supposed to send my blog didn’t work. No email means no blog views.

I was upset. I was mad at my website for not working and mad at myself for letting the drought happen in the first place. And I said some things about my email provider that would make you think they insulted my mother. (Sorry Mailchimp).

That’s when I realized how poetic it was.

New beginnings are always rocky.

(Yeah, I did it.)

No matter whether you’re changing careers or trying a belly dancing class, your new beginning will have bumps. Hiccups will happen, you’ll mess something up. 

But you can’t let that discourage you. 

It’s part of the process. There’s no reason to be surprised or upset with ourselves. 

You’ll probably have to work at embracing the bumps–I certainly do. But instead of wishing for a smoother transition, I’m now accepting the nature of every new beginning. 

I guess that stone did something after all.

To being better without giving up after every bump,
Elizabeth

P.s. If you’re asking whether “new beginning” is redundant, yes, it is, and the term you’re looking for is “pleonasm.”