A few weeks ago, during a conversation with my daughter, I expressed my excitement for her, and asked her how excited she must be to have a new beginning, and how she felt to start this new chapter in her life. She replied with such hope and enthusiasm to my question. She then followed her response with the same question to me. “Mom, how excited are you to have a new beginning, into this new chapter of your life?”
I have been so overwhelmed with college visits, applications and deadlines, not to mention end-of-the-year activities like senior trips, prom, senior brunch, graduation pictures and, of course, graduation. At the same time I’ve been dealing with the fact that she will be leaving, and I’m learning to let go. I was so focused on Victoria’s new beginning that I had forgotten about my own.
I, too, will be transitioning into my own new beginning! This was an exciting thought to ponder, one that I had not been able to see through all the anxiety and fear of change that was happening in my life.
It’s been 18 years since I had to intentionally focus on myself and all that I want to do or have been putting off. Take college for instance, I had taken a break from school prior to the birth of our daughter—a break that I am still on today! Then there is my relationship with my husband, and a new beginning means redefining and reacquainting ourselves in this new chapter of our lives. I was so involved and consumed with fear of change that I could not see past that, to a transformed and renewed life, full of possibility.
This blog comes just one day after my daughter’s graduation from high school. I could not be more proud of the young women she has become. Though I celebrate her, I also feel that this is a graduation of my own, a graduation of transition and acceptance of a new beginning and possibility for me.
What are the new transitions in your life? What do those new beginnings look like for you? Whatever they are, may they be filled with a renewed sense of self and may they re-define your best you!
Gabriela Contreras is director for meeting planning.
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