Do you have many ‘first times’? Why not? First times are fun and exciting and allow you to learn something you didn’t know before. Regardless of your age – you should have at least 1 ‘first time’ every day… or as often as possible. First times can be spectacular or they can be insightful or… whatever they turn out to be, the definition is that it’s your first time. Do you remember other first times…? Of course you can and some of the experiences were great and some were painful. First times always invoke some response in you – it’s difficult to be indifferent to the experience.
Some examples of first times: the first time you rode your bicycle without training wheels, the first kiss, the first job and probably more important – your first paycheck, the first time you were trusted by your parents to ‘be on your own’. There is an extensive list of your first times and I suspect the few that I mentioned immediately brought a picture to your mind and a smile… or a frown. Throughout your life you experience many first times – but what did you do about them?
The point of first times is that whatever it is… a thought, an action, a new learning, a new attempt; it was your first time. Granted it may be repeated innumerable times afterward or changed, refined, or the opposite but that first moment is always – unforgettable. And it brought with it a new sense, a new appreciation of whatever you were doing. Or a sense of ‘I’ll never do that again!’ but it had a significance for you that rarely diminishes over time.
First times stretch us, get us out of our comfort zone – they always teach (if we want to learn) and provide us with new opportunities. I suspect ‘dull’ rarely defines a first time – subsequent experience, perhaps. My point is that you never outgrow first times and you can experience first times as often as you want. You are the controlling variable in first times and your attitude determines everything. Fear should never be associated with taking a first time… joy, excitement, challenge – yes. It’s never doing something daring or foolhardy for it’s sake. Sometimes it’s sitting quietly listening to the birds chatter and reading.
…but, what do you think? what do you believe
