Start Over

This was when I learned that you have to give up your life as you know it to get a new one: that sometimes you need to let go of everything you’re clinging to and start over, whether because you’ve outgrown it or because it’s not working anymore, or because it was wrong for you in the first place. ~ Kelly Cutrone

Sometimes a rough draft, even a final manuscript,
is worthless, something you can learn from
but never repair to give it the vitality, the integrity,
the cohesiveness to be worthy of going forward.
It’s a learning tool, a way to sharpen skills…
but not much more. It’s time to start over.
But even writing something never to see daylight
you’ve grown as a writer, gotten better, honed skills.
It’s like that in life. Wasted years are never, really.
They serve to learn what not to do, to identify
with people we can help, to give us depth and heart
and a chance to become who we’re brave enough to be.

 failure