Once you know in your heart that it’s time to start over, the next step is understanding how to do so. First of all, there is nothing easy about starting over in your life, as appealing as it may seem at times. Experiencing that extensive amount of change can be very painful, especially when it is not a change you’ve brought upon yourself. Either way you want to slice it, starting over is tough, but here is a 4-step process that is sure to help you in the process.
The 4-Step Process
Step 1: Acknowledgment– the first step in the process is acknowledgment. You must acknowledge the fact that life as you knew it is over. You can’t become who you once were. There is no going back, no room in your heart for regret. There is only moving on. Acknowledgment is the first step in the process of letting go. Letting go can be very painful.
Step 2: Acceptance and forgiveness– no regret means acceptance that your old life has ended. It also means forgiveness. Forgiveness for you and for others, for the world. Without forgiveness, there is no acceptance. Without acceptance that your life has, up to this point, bean what it is, there is no moving on. If you cannot move on, starting over becomes impossible. Fighting to hold on only leads to pain.
Step 3: Action– now is the time to make your move into your new life. If you are splitting up a romantic relationship, it’s time to move away. Whatever you need to do in order to move on, you must do it lest you remain in limbo forever floating along away from nothing and toward nothing. This one is tough too and often we are unable to move on as a result of inactivity based on fear. Fear of what might happen or perhaps of getting our feelings hurt, or hurting someone else’s. Action will quell the fear.
Step 4: Follow through– don’t look back. Keep on truckin’ so to speak. If you try to change your mind, if you allow yourself to escape back to an older chapter of your life, you run the risk of never reading through to the new chapter. When we can’t move to the next chapter, the story ends abruptly. Moving on into a new life also means that you must not revert. You must be strong and don’t look back. Keep going no matter how hard it may seem.
By practicing acknowledgment, acceptance, action, and follow through, starting over in a new life becomes much more attainable. Of course, it’s easier said than done. Just because we put it in a 4-step process, doesn’t make it easy by any stretch, but it also doesn’t make it unattainable. Nothing you do in this world that is worth doing comes easy. Starting over gives you an opportunity to change your entire life for the better.
If you missed it, the related blog to this article is: The Art of Starting Over, Is It Possible And When Should You Do It?
©Love Wide Open
