Easter, spring, graduations, first communions and mother’s day all remind us that we can indeed be reborn. As winter slowly gives way to spring and pesky polar vortexes fade with the arrival of the first 70 degree days of the new year; we can once again recall that even the worst of winters, the worst of times, the worst that the world can possibly throw at us can indeed be beaten and we can start all over again. Hope rises from the deepest depths of those frigidly cold winter nights and we once again remember that sun can truly come up tomorrow.
No matter how bad things seem at the time, no matter how difficult the road ahead appears to be; no matter how long it seems to be until that special day finally arrives; we are reminded that we can, we most certainly will survive and things will be better. Life offers us all the golden opportunity to ignore the past, try again, start from zero and wipe the slate clean….if only we will let it.
When we were young there were always seemed to be second chances. We had “do-overs” and “mulligans” all of the time. If we failed or our games went poorly, we simply started over. It seemed natural, we always did it and no one seemed to care. All of us did it and it gave us a terrific feeling; that mistakes could be erased and the slate wiped clean. Start over, no problem, let’s begin anew.
I vividly remember my freshman year in college when I decided to start over. In high school, I never had the courage to run for elected office in my class. I held back, I hesitated, I did not think I could win. Worse, I feared I would lose and that would have been too much for me to bear. So I did nothing and instead slipped into the shadows of the hallways. Early in my first year of college, I realized that very few of these people knew me they had no idea who I was and I had absolutely nothing to lose. I ran for student government representative and I won. I was asked to run for President of Commuter Council and I again defeated all of the other candidates. I had erased my fear of losing and so I ran for Vice President of the student government. In a field of 5 candidates, I finished second. Yet, while I had, in fact lost my final election, I soon discovered that I had actually won. My fear of losing was what was really defeated that night, never to return. I was reborn. Reborn to never fear defeat again.
We can all be reborn if we only we will try. We have that ability within us, but sometimes it appears to be so far away when nothing seems to be going right. When winter is at its very worst, when the boss seems completely impossible, when all hope appears to be lost, that is when we need rebirth the most. What I discovered during that first year of college was that the only loss we cannot recover from is the one that keeps us from ever trying again. Nothing can defeat us if we truly believe that we will be reborn. Our past can indeed be erased, a do-over can begin immediately….all we have to do is believe.