On Beginning Again
Attention cost: 3 min
Hi friends,
I’m writing my first newsletter since week 3 of the year. I got married. I was sick the week before the wedding. Between work and pulling it all together, I fell off this commitment. And that’s ok.
Because that’s actually what I want to write about this week: beginning again.
Getting started is hard. But beginning again? I think that’s harder. Starting something new has the energy of possibility behind it. Beginning again has baggage.
Why beginning again is so hard —
Three things that I believe stop us from starting over:
Shame. The shame of making a commitment — to yourself or others — and not following through.
Disappointment. The weight of not meeting your own expectations, or the expectations of the people around you.
Fear of failing again. If you’ve already stumbled once, it’s easy to believe you’ll stumble again. So why bother?
These feelings don’t just slow us down. They create friction. And friction makes it harder to move forward — like trying to run a race while something keeps pulling you back.
What I do when I need to begin again —
It feels hard to give this advice when beginning again actively feels hard for me. But here is my process:
Step 1: Forgive yourself. Beating yourself up for what you haven’t done will not help you move forward. Give yourself compassion instead. You’re not starting from zero — you’re starting with everything you learned last time.
Step 2: Ask why you stopped. Not to judge yourself, but to understand what got in the way. For me, I had too much on my plate. The wedding, work, being sick — my priorities shifted and some balls dropped. That’s not failure. It’s reprioritization.
Step 3: Take the smallest possible step. If you feel stuck, your next step isn’t small enough. I once heard Steven Bartlett say that people don’t change because they overlook how embarrassingly small the next step actually is. No one sits down and writes a book — they sit down and write a sentence. Delete it. Write another one. Then one day, a book emerges.
How this newsletter happened today —
I’ve been really blocked in my morning journaling practice. Barely getting a paragraph down before closing my journal. My goal today wasn’t to start my newsletter again. It was just to fill three pages — however I could get there.
And after about a page, a spark came. And here we are.
Don’t anchor on the destination. Anchor on the trailhead. On the first post.
A quick aside —
A few weeks ago, I wrote a newsletter I never published. Ironically, it was about how not trying keeps us safe — because if you never try, you never risk failing. The takeaway I landed on then is the same one I’ll share here: shrink the goal. Bring the finish line closer. Focus on the next action.
What’s next —
I’m wrapping up my honeymoon and heading back to work this week after two weeks off. Next week I’ll write about how I practically reset my life when I feel behind and don’t know where to start.
What I gave my attention to this week
Getting married last weekend. Even though we were already legally married, this made it feel even more real — committing to each other in front of our community. It was the best weekend of my life. I’m so proud of what Glenn and I created with the help of our families and an exceptional team. I’ve never felt more present in my life.
Digital detox and declutter. The comedown from the wedding was hard. I stayed away from screens — despite everything I knew I needed to do — and decluttered our Palm Springs house. Organizing calms my anxiety, and since we’ll be spending more time there, I wanted to create a foundation for calm when I got back into the swing.
Minimoon in Utah. I’ve been trying to sleep and recover as much as possible. Relax and be in nature. I’m anxious about getting back to work, but trying to be as present as possible.
What I’m procrastinating on: so much got pushed because of the wedding, but that’s ok. It will all get done — one thing at a time.
What’s something you’ve been putting off starting again? What’s the smallest possible next step?
Thanks for your attention ❤️
Liza
I needed this today!