Val Dumond

Author

Publisher

Editor

Consultant

Articles on Writing, Grammar, and Publishing
by Val Dumond

Starting Over May Be Hard To Do...
But It's (Usually) Worth It!
by Val Dumond
© Copyright 2009

For some reason, we always consider either of two times a year as "starting over" opportunities: New Years and autumn. Something about September moves us to go back to school and start a new term. New Years is a convenient time to start over with a clean calendar on the wall.

Shedding the past and beginning anew can be scary times for the uninitiated (the young), but it can be equally frightening for the been-there-done-that senior crowd (the elders). How many times have you started over, not counting school terms? Do you remember high school graduation and turning about to face a world without the structure of a schoolroom? Even college produces the freedom of release from the chains of living with parents.

You're on your own! Golly, what a shiver goes through me as I remember that one. I went away to college; it was up to me to secure a place to sleep at night, find ways to feed myself, and motivate myself to finish class assignments on time. Oh the power! And I didn't have to clean my room if I didn't want to.

Recently, one of my heirs discovered the chills of starting over, as if there wasn't a role model in the family. "How many times do you suppose I've started over?" I offered, with the hope of reducing the chills.

"But you're not me," was the response. "I'm beginning a new job, moving, re-arranging my family, and assuming responsibilities that I haven't known in a long time." (This offspring has operated a successful independent business for many years.)

"You're not me." Exactly. This starting-over business is personal. Some view it as adventure (I used that one to allay fears in my children when we all started over). Some view it as challenging (here is an opportunity to do something worthwhile). And some view starting over as the scariest moment in their lives (new people, new surroundings, new responsibilities, new... everything).

Personally, I view the beginning of summer as one of those serendipitous opportunities to block out a piece of time and achieve something within a timeline. Guess that goes back to my disappointment at having school interrupted for three months! Yes, I actually enjoyed school. That may be why I compensated June school's-out-day by finding a moment to begin a summer project.

These days, summer is an occasion to take time off from my writing classes and salons and devote time to my own projects. In the tight-money days, I worried through the bleak summer without classes. Now I have the luxury of spending long delicious hours writing. Sometimes I don't come up for air for days on end, for I'm in another world, another time, another person's head. I can project any problem onto a fictional character and let them solve it. I eat when I'm hungry, sleep when I'm sleepy, and ride my bicycle when I hit a conundrum in plot. The fresh air is great for re-igniting the little gray cells.

When is your favorite starting-over time? When do you get the biggest boost in looking forward, starting over? When you begin a new business? Have an addition to the family? Move to a new house? Take a new job? Enter a new year/season? Start a new school program? Or when you simply decide it's time to clear out cobwebs and get back to doing what makes you happy?

Back to the main Articles page

Please feel free to contact me. I welcome your comments and any specific questions you may have.