The Art of Starting Again
Fresh beginnings don’t always arrive with everything in place.
· 3 min read · Tania Cottew
We moved into this house at the beginning of June, and we’re still unpacking. Now we’re moving everything out of our commercial office too. That job isn’t quite finished, and we’re setting up a new meeting room downstairs while we work out where the rest of it all belongs.
The Menlo Associates / Academy desk area is about 85% up and running, which feels good to say. Amor Aromatherapy is another story: I’d put it at about 25% unpacked and organised. Both businesses are coming into this new space, just at different speeds.
I used to think a fresh start would feel more definite. You’d finish one thing, close the door, and begin the next with a clear plan. But we’ve been living in our new home for months with boxes still to unpack. The office move is happening alongside everything else that makes up an ordinary week.
Perhaps that’s what starting again usually looks like. You don’t get to pause your life until every room is ready.
Today I put a crystal chandelier back together after hours of dismantling and cleaning it. It took patience, and I had to pay attention to each piece. I couldn’t rush to the part where it was finished and hanging there looking lovely.
There’s something familiar about that at the moment. We’re taking things apart, carrying them from one place to another, and finding new places for them. Some things fit straight away. Others are still waiting while we decide.
Changing direction doesn’t mean the years that came before were a mistake. The office has been part of our lives. We’ll bring what matters from that time into what we’re doing next, even if the shape of our days is different.
Nor do we need permission to begin before we feel certain. We can set up the meeting room and see how we use it. We can make a home while there are still boxes in the corner. We can change our minds about where things belong.
I would like to have the unpacking finished. I’d like the office move to be done too. But I don’t want to miss this part of our lives because it doesn’t yet look complete.
We’re already here. One desk area is nearly ready; another business is still finding its place. We’re making plans, using the rooms and finding our way into what comes next. Maybe starting again isn’t one moment after all. Maybe it’s something we keep doing as we go.