The last time I got to start from scratch was in the Fall of 2002. I was a freshman at Norfolk State University and nobody knew who I was. Nobody cared who I was. I was just another face in the crowd with no reputation, no relationships, and no history. It was a chance to reinvent myself and become the person I’d always wanted to be but couldn’t because where I came from, I already had a reputation.
Over the next thirteen years, rather than DEFINING who I am I would DISCOVER who I am. Through good times and challenging times. Through celebratory moments and moments of distress, I came to understand who I was. The more comfortable I became with who I was, the more clearly I began to see who I could be. And the more clearly I saw who I could be, the harder I worked to get there.
Over time, I developed a reputation. I leave that to others to reveal what that reputation was, but I was proud of the associations I had developed with my name.
Then I moved to Omaha, Nebraska. A place where only one person really knew me besides my wife and children. In a new place, where nobody knows who I am, nobody knows what I’ve done, nobody knows what I can do, and honestly at this point, nobody cares.
It’s a humbling experience, but a refreshing one. There is a new fight and a new drive within me to continue chasing who I know I can be. A refreshing opportunity to move beyond the failures and start building something new.
It’s the same thing that happens everyday when God wakes us up. Each day is a new opportunity to start back at scratch, to strive to be the person that you know you can be. Every day God gives us new mercy and fresh grace so we can move beyond our faults and failures and pursue the excellence of who we were created to be.
Today is a new day, and if you desire, it’s a chance to start back at scratch. Today is a chance to move beyond the failures of yesterday and look forward to the potential and possibility of tomorrow.
I was afraid starting over was going to be difficult, then I realized how exciting it’s going to be to become an even better me.
Decide today to become a better you! You can start from scratch.
~ Coach J