La Vita Nuova

La Vita Nuova. The New Life.

I hear, so often, of people saying they're doing a fresh start. A new chapter starts here. This week everything is going to change. I do it. We all have at some point, I guess. It's like tearing the pages out of a journal, forgetting the past entries and starting your journey again.

We get knocked down. We get punched in our heart. We get our safety, our security, our happiness torn from our hands. We're left naked and bruised. Bloody and confused.

No. Time for a new start, a new life, a new chapter where this situation doesn't have the last word. We want to forget.

I don't want to forget though. I don't want to tear the pages of my life from my Life's Book and throw them into the fire. I want to keep them and look back at them. Not because of self pity or a desire to sink into deep, dark melancholy. No, I look back to learn and grow. I look back to understand what it means to be Thomas, Tom, Tommy.

La Vita Nuova. A new life means understanding your old life. Your past enables you to live fully in the present and be hopeful for the future.