Some of the best chapters of my life started with a deep breath and a small, brave step.
When I think about the moments that shaped me most, they often weren’t the days that went according to plan. They weren’t the victories or the times everything felt easy. Instead, they were the in-between moments—the days when something ended, or I found myself standing in the quiet after a door closed, unsure of what came next.
Life is full of these cycles. We begin, we build, we stumble, we let go, and then, if we’re brave enough, we begin again. Sometimes that “ending” is clear: the last day at a job, a move to a new city, a goodbye you didn’t want to say. Other times, the ending is quieter: a routine that no longer fits, a friendship that slowly drifts, or simply the realization that the life you’ve been living no longer reflects the person you’ve become.
And then comes that uncertain space in the middle—the pause between what was and what will be. It can feel disorienting, even a little lonely. There’s a voice that whispers: “Stay where you are. It’s safer here. Starting over is too hard.”
But I’ve learned that the real turning point in life often comes not with the big leaps, but with the small, brave steps we take in those in-between moments. Beginning again doesn’t have to be dramatic. In fact, it rarely is.
It’s the morning you get out of bed after a night of worry, and you decide to face the day anyway.
It’s making a single phone call to reconnect with someone when pride told you to stay silent.
It’s opening a blank page—whether in a journal, a plan, or your own heart—and saying, “Let’s try again.”
Those little steps carry so much courage because they come when we are tender, unsure, and unsteady. And yet, those are the steps that slowly move us from the ache of what we’ve lost toward the hope of what we might find.
If you look back on your own life, I’m willing to bet that some of the chapters you now treasure began this way. Not with fireworks, but with a deep breath. Not with certainty, but with the decision to move forward anyway.
I think about the times I’ve had to begin again: after plans fell apart, after mistakes I couldn’t undo, after seasons where I felt like I’d lost my way. Each time, the hardest part wasn’t the rebuilding—it was the first, quiet choice to start. To put one foot in front of the other. To whisper to myself, “Try again.”
The truth is, life will always invite us to begin again. Sometimes by choice, sometimes by circumstance. But each new beginning is an act of hope—a belief that even though yesterday may have been hard, there is something worth moving toward tomorrow.
If today you find yourself in that in-between space, wondering if you have the strength to start over, I hope you remember this: beginnings rarely feel bold or perfect. They’re often wobbly, tender, and uncertain. But those first small steps, taken with a courageous heart, are what lead us to the most meaningful chapters of our lives.
So here’s to the quiet bravery of beginning again—after loss, after change, after hard days, and after all the moments that made us doubt we could. Our stories are never truly finished, and some of the most beautiful chapters are still waiting to be written. All it takes is a deep breath, a little hope, and one small step forward.
