00:06

Hey, this is It's Okay If, bite-sized permission slips. I'm Matt Gilhoolie, and today's permission? It's okay if you feel like a beginner again. Starting over is hard, isn't it? Whether it's a new job, a new town, a new relationship, or just a new season of life, there's this part of us that resists being a beginner. We tell ourselves, I should know better by now, or I should have figured this out already, or...

00:34

I shouldn't feel this clumsy, this lost. I get it. Because a few years ago, I found myself back in school at 40. A totally new master's degree, and it was an online program. And honestly, that made it even harder. No real classrooms, no face-to-face connections, just me, back and forth on a forum or on Zoom, trying to figure it out alongside people who were often half my age. Then, at 43,

01:03

I started a new job, in a new industry, doing things I'd never done before. And yeah, I felt like a beginner again. Like I was fumbling through, pretending I had it all together, while inside I was asking myself, do I really belong here?

01:21

But maybe that's not failure. Maybe that's growth. Maybe being a beginner isn't a weakness at all. Maybe it's an invitation. An invitation to learn, to be curious, to get it wrong, to discover things you never would have if you stayed in the safe, comfortable, I already know this space. So today, if you feel like you're fumbling through something new, you're not behind, you're becoming.

01:50

What's one area of your life where you're letting yourself be new again? Can you give yourself permission to not have it all figured out? If so, why don't you tell yourself, I give myself permission to be new at this, to be a beginner, to not have it all figured out. That's your permission slip, friend. Tuck it in your pocket and I'll see you next time.