Today has been a day of new beginnings . . . a refreshing, welcome change after months of adapting to the busyness of the present and sorting through the wreckage of the past.

The most joyful event of the day–and of the past year–happened as I took in the sight of dirt. As someone who struggles with OCD, I usually have the opposite reaction to dirt, but this mass of soil was one of the most beautiful sights that I had ever seen. It represented the culmination of hard work and sweat over the past several months. It symbolized something that I had hoped for for a long time . . . a new beginning. We’d finally cleared our land.

This blank slate meant that we could finally build those things that we’d longingly talked about when we couldn’t even afford to rent our own place: that fairytale stone cottage or that cozy log cabin. My husband, Tony, could finally have his own workshop.

As I write this blog, I’m facing another new beginning, another blank slate. This is the first time that I’ve stared at a blank digital page and written a blog post. Ever. It feels both exciting and intimidating.

Over the next several months, there will be many things to do, many things to learn–in developing our property and in writing this blog. If you’ve had experience with either of those things, I’d appreciate your advice!

What about your new beginnings? When you’ve faced blank slates, how have you felt about them?