I don’t remember many details from the first morning I woke up in a new city after moving away from home for the first time.
Just one.
My graduate program had not yet started, and after arriving late the afternoon before, I was very much in the mode of getting settled in. But I have a vivid memory of one small detail.
I stepped outside into the heat of a very hot day and walked down the street toward campus. About three blocks from my apartment, I picked up a copy of the university newspaper. Given the temperature — one of my first days there included a heat index of 109 degrees! — I didn’t stay out long. I simply turned around and walked back home with the newspaper in hand.
Such a tiny excursion, but I felt especially alive in that moment.
I had Day 1 Energy — that awareness that I was standing at the very beginning of what I hoped would be a meaningful chapter of life. And it was. The next five years led to some of my favorite memories and introductions to people who remain among the most important in my life.
In your own way, have you ever experienced Day 1 Energy?
Maybe it was a move. A new job. A new marriage. A new baby. A degree program. A volunteer role. The details of the days have not yet been filled in. The rhythms, particularities, and meaning have not yet taken shape.
But you know they will. You’re at the beginning.
And all beginnings are connected to a variety of culminations and arrival points as well. People and events have led us to Day 1 Energy. Perhaps these moments feel so significant because we are unusually aware of standing at a threshold.
Smuggling Grace 