Today is the Perfect Day to Start Over
Today is Monday. But not just any Monday, mind you. It’s the first day of the week, the first day of the month, the first day of the quarter, and — for all intents and purposes — the first day of spring. What better time for a new, fresh start?
Although we rarely realize it, each moment is an opportunity for a new beginning — we just have to make it so while remembering that we’re in control of our perception, mood, and actions. Science confirms we can trick ourselves into creating a fresh start, or we can harness the momentum of a shared calendar milestone (like April 1) to get motivated.
An example: My flight from Amsterdam to Atlanta left an hour ago. Instead of hoofing it across the pond, I’m sitting in the window of The Breakfast Club — sipping an Americano with steamed almond milk while I watch people whizz by on scooters, bikes, skateboards, and trams — otherwise known as “rush hour” in the Dutch capital.
Plan B today — after playing hooky with the airport — was to head to a co-working space to kick off a productive week. Instead, I took a hard right at blueberry pancakes with lemon mascarpone and bacon crumble. No regrets.
Before getting out of bed everyday, I meditate then read something inspiring and scratch out a few Morning Pages. On this particular morning, I pried open Seneca’s On the Shortness of Life for the first time (shout out to Ryan Holiday). So far, I’ve had to hold back from highlighting the entire thing.
If you haven’t read it yet, it’s basically the literary equivalent of stepping off a plank and into a frozen pond — a wake-up call, to say the least. If you can get beyond the initial panic attack that you’ve been wasting your life away, there’s something oddly comforting about knowing that — 1,000’s of years ago — people struggled with being “preoccupied while life hastens on… spending their lives in organizing their lives.”
Don’t be that guy (aka all of us). In case you need a reminder:
“Putting things off is the biggest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future.”
“To what are you straining? The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.”
Suffice to say, Seneca would be aghast at how often modern-day humans check their Instagram feeds.
As I gaze out the window and let this realization sink in, thoughts of accounting and taxes begin to creep into my psyche. I shake it off. My workday will start soon enough. The emails will still be there. But for now — in this moment — I’ll be living this day as if it were my last and starting it as if it were my first. Will you?
“While there are only so many first days of anything on the calendar, what matters is finding and emphasizing days that are personally meaningful or motivating to you.” — Ashley Abramson
