How to Start Something New Even If You Feel Stuck

The idea of starting something new seems simple enough, right? Nike tells us to just "do it." For so many of us, however, starting something new is attached to deeper meanings that stop us and hold us captive at the threshold of a new beginning. We can see the vision of this new thing right in front of us. We can almost touch it and taste it, its that close. But sometimes, something from the depths of our inner beings express messages that captivate us more than our rich, visceral experiences of our new beginnings, and we decide not to start something. 

Some of us can push through or block out the inner voice that interrupts that significant first step and bam like sprinters hearing the loud starting sound are off running toward the new thing. But others like me pause and listen to the internal messages that can derail us from starting something new. These internal messages are personal to each of us and may change over time. Sometimes these messages appear as feelings such as fear or overwhelm and do not have a distinct memory attached to them that we can recall, which would give meaning to our emotions and help us make sense of our experience of not starting. 

How do we start somewhere when our inner voices remind us of the negative associations we may hold regarding beginning something new? How can we make sense of our experiences of not starting and instead move toward starting somewhere?

The wisdom of our bodies can show us how. 

In each moment that our hearts beat, our brains create new neural synapses, our eyes see, noses smell, mouths taste, and our hands touch, we are ever starting something new. We learn, communicate, love, create, and grow as humans through this continuous flow of starting and experiencing, which naturally happens in each moment because we have bodies and are alive. 

When we focus on the wisdom of our bodies, we can see that starting something new is innate to us; it is a natural process within us. When we bring awareness to this natural phenomena, we can trust that our bodies know how to start and become in each moment. We can transform the messages of our inner voices with this truth and become who we are meant to be and do what we are meant to do, and start somewhere.

Mary Underwood, MA