Firsts & Flows

About magical beginnings and poetic ends

Outside, the world is celebrating Halloween, and inside, I’m curling up in my bed getting all cosy and comfortable. I can hear kids’ screams and imagine spooky costumes and fun trick-or-treat games.

For this week’s newsletter, I had a different idea, but then yesterday someone asked me about this end-of-season celebration. Google came to the rescue —how it is celebrated every year by the end of October, and marks the end of summer and harvest. There’s this strange thing about me that I always get a bit nostalgic when something ends. Whether it’s a book, a month, a season, a series or a cup of coffee/Tea, I get nostalgic. Today is the last day of October. The month is about to end. The air smells like endings. The light seems different. The atmosphere feels different, as if pausing before the turn.

But then I also feel a different kind of tickle inside me when I think about beginnings. Before starting on a new book, going to a new place, exploring a new taste, or trying a new activity, the adrenaline reaches new heights. There’s something about firsts that never loses its charm. They allow life to flow. Naturally. Without pause.

The first day of a month. The first sentence of a book. The first effort after stagnation. Each of these firsts is so full of life. So raw. So real. Carrying the nervous energy of strength like a river. To allow flow. With a little tremor.

When in flow, things have a natural beauty. And we romanticise flow for all of its magic. But flow happens after a start. The seamless rhythm is achieved after a start. Magical things happen when someone says, “I’ll begin”. Everything starts from somewhere. Then the journey begins. Things flow. From one end to the next beginning.

As T.S. Eliot puts it;

“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from”.

If you want to write your book or take on a job of your dreams, start. From somewhere. Even if it feels tough. Even when October still lingers. Even if the road is bumpy.

The new month is knocking. Take it as a fresh start. You’ve all my blessings. Anything can happen.

Here’s to October’s end and November’s first step.

Cheers.