*Inspired by song of the same title by Mumford & Sons
New York, NY – One of the few inevitable things in life is change. No matter how hard one might struggle against it, the waves of change will sweep you up and take you along for the ride. Change is sometimes viewed as a tumultuous turn of events because let’s face it; most of us do not like change. There is a certain comfort in what is familiar and we cling to that familiarity. And in no place is this more evident that in relationships. Relationships come in all different varieties and they can change from moment to moment. They can be measured in an instant, days, weeks, months or in years. As we move through relationships, some significant, some insignificant we build up a certain amount of baggage that travels with us. That baggage much like the former relationship can become familiar to us. We’ve carried around the memories, the thoughts, the emotions, and in some cases the hurt that we wouldn’t know what to do if it wasn’t with us. It’s as much a part of our relationship DNA as anything else we might have encountered. Of course, there are lessons to be learned from looking at our past but the past can also be a stumbling block toward the future. When you spend all your time looking back it makes it next to impossible to see what is coming down the road in front of you. That’s why as frightening as change is..as heavy as that baggage is you have to start over. You have to take out that white blank page.
When we’re children is there anything more exciting than a white blank page? The imagination of a child can create anything they can envision and amuse themselves for hours with a sheet of paper. Whatever they can dream they can make materialize. The best new relationships start in the same manner. Two people agree to take out that white blank page and write on it together. It’s a fresh start; a new beginning and the only things to go on that page should be what you choose to place on it together. You take the pen and make your tentative sketches. At other times they are leading the way…tracing long crooked lines that don’t seem to go anywhere until they do. No erasers allowed on this white blank page. What you create is written in ink because in a relationship you just can’t rub out the things you don’t like. So your page will be cluttered and messy and beautiful and best of all uniquely yours. But you can’t write on a page that is already full with the lines and sketches of others. Fresh starts are essential to making a relationship work. And fresh starts require commitment, love and most importantly courage. Because it takes courage to drop those bags, pick up a pen and make the most of that white blank page.
