A New Chance At A New You

foto: by Kessiye

New Year’s Day is all about new beginnings; a clean slate, a fresh start, a time to erase the mistakes of the previous year and set out to accomplish new or unachieved goals. A new year is an excuse to reinvent ourselves. We’ve all reinvented ourselves at one time or another, sometimes willingly, sometimes not. Determined to succeed or forced into a circumstance of change, in the end we find ourselves reinvented—a collaboration of trials, achievements, tests and situations that have molded us into something refreshingly new.

I’ve been there myself, reinventing who I am over the years. Although, never letting go of my core being. In challenging myself and facing many unexpected obstacles, I have learned things that made me grow into this person who is confident and unabashedly in love with discovering what I can be good at. When I think back to who I was 10 years ago, it’s strange to think of my poor self esteem and bleak outlook on life. Then I got married, had a career, became a mother, lost a baby, began writing, found myself…and along the way I discovered a person full of talent and confidence that developed into a long list of accomplishments that almost seem fairytale in their nature. At some point, I reinvented myself and I can almost pinpoint when. I simply decided to focus on who I wanted to be and not compromise on anything less. What’s funny is that what I wanted to be—a writer engaging with people, was something I dreamt about when I was in 5th grade. However, as with most dreams, we think they are unachievable and stash them away only to reflect with regret in our later years. Fortunately fate came into play for me 20 years later that has helped reignite a dream and steer me down a path in life that I couldn’t have possibly imaged at 11 years old.

So how can you reinvent yourself in this new year filled with the promises of unending possibilities? Look within yourself. Do you have an undiscovered talent lying within? Maybe there is a childhood dream you had long wanted to pursue. What were the good things that happened in 2007 that you accomplished and want to do more of? Anything is possible with a little determination and some elbow grease. That’s the beauty of a new year, it’s a new hope for something better and it all begins within you…one reinvention at a time.

-Shannon Nelson | “http://girlsgottaspa.blogspot.com”

Shannon Nelson is is the author behind "A Girl's Gotta Spa", "Makeup Minute" and "Beauty Pro".
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