New…

…definitions.

Not quite new year any more, as it’s February, almost St Valentine’s Day, and a whiff of spring around the corner!

New growth on my apple tree – now there’s a metaphor!

Happy new year anyway, as I realise it’s months since I last wrote here!

Why new? What’s the point? New what? Is the ‘old’ not good enough for now?

Of course, the not-new is plenty good enough – the familiar stops us being too stressed, the landmarks of routine help us to plan our journey through life.

However…

Familiarity doesn’t allow us to grow or change, it can stifle or bury, blocks innovation and imagination. Comfort is a safe haven, but, as Mark Twain is often quoted as saying – ‘a ship is safe in harbour, but that’s not what ships are built for.’

A ship is built to go out to sea, to weather storms, to protect those she carries.

Doing new things is the metaphorical equivalent of pulling up your anchor and leaving harbour. Maybe you’ll only go a few miles before circumstances bring you back again, to re-stock the ship and launch another day. Or perhaps it will be the start of a longer voyage, to new places, people, and experiences.

Where would the human race be if we’d never tried anything new? What if our ancestors hadn’t investigated fire, or had big thoughts, played with mark-making, or wandered away from their homes?

I know I’m often guilty of not wanting to try something new, being firmly wedded to my comfort zone! I’m a first-class over-thinker and recovering perfectionist, with a penchant for total inaction – even when my logical brain knows that action would benefit me hugely!

That said, I know I’m improving, working towards launching my ship outside of that safe harbour, to leave port instead of tootling around the same few feet of deep water. As the daughter of a sea-faring man, I do love ocean-going references, so have an image in my head of my little harbour that’s so familiar and comforting.

(In case you were wondering, it’s an amalgamation of Cornish and East Yorkshire coastal harbours, with a touch of Tarbert, Argyll, chucked in…!)

A little investigation…

Being a word-nerd, I looked at words similar to ‘new’ – just look at some of those exciting words above!

Confirms what I said about our ancestors – the personification of these marvellous words!

I’m going to set you my first challenge of 2023…

Look at both the lists above – do any of those words sing to you? Are you ‘feeling the love’ of something new as we approach St Valentine’s Day?!

I challenge you to pick a word, tell me how it makes you feel inside (not just a dictionary definition, but gut feeling), and use it to try something new for YOU. Maybe you feel inspired to find your own ‘new’ word, and pull up the anchor a little today – next week or next month you might get outside your harbour, or even be half way to a new destination!

(See what I did there?!)

It doesn’t have be earth-shattering (but it could be!), and I will do the same – pop back and let me know in comments where you go, or pop onto my social media accounts (Instagram, Facebook) and have a chat with me about your ‘new’ – talk to you all soon!

Anna xx