Fresh Starts “-” A Blank Canvas Concept

I’ve been spending a lot of my time up a ladder of late. This is not a metaphor for some special type of soul searching.  I have literally been up a ladder painting the walls in my living and dining room.  Thanks to our “old queenslander” home, we have glorious 11ft high ceilings – which comes with a hell of a lot of wall space when you go to paint it, and a fair amount of time a few feet off the ground.

I’ve had plenty of time to think though, while I’ve been up there, and I’m not sure if it’s the paint fumes, altitude sickness, or a combination of both, but I’ve been contemplating the ideas of a fresh start – that concept of ” a blank canvas” or “a clean slate”.  As I’ve painted a fresh coat over years of finger prints, dints, crayon/pencil and pen marks (children live here!), it’s got me thinking – can you ever truly begin again?

As a highly sensitive, emotional and hormonal teenager (quite standard actually), I often day dreamed of moving away where no one knew who I was, starting over – beginning again.  This usually happened after a break up with a boyfriend, a fight with a best friend – even sometimes just after an off day. The notion of starting over was so appealing – reinventing myself – fixing all those flaws that I thought were standing between me and my ideal life.

Add some years, more break ups, more responsibility, some major life lessons, and I’ve begun to understand that we can never truly start completely over.  



Underneath that fresh coat of paint, the wall structure is the same. We can fill in some of the dints, the cracks and sand back some of the peeling paint.  Just like we can identify in our lives, those areas that need filling – things that we need more of, and those areas that we can sand back – things that we can let go of. 

But underneath –  our structure – who we really are still remains.



By no means are we simply the sum of our experiences.



But we have been through those experiences because of the path we are on and they have played an integral part in our journey.

The concept of self acceptance – of cherishing that structure



that which makes up who we truly are



our inner self – our soul – our true self



This gives us the freedom to fill in the cracks and dints, sand back the peeling paint  – chose any colour we want – and re-paint



a fresh start



not from the beginning – but from where we are now