One of my professors in grad school said something that has stuck with me ever since. He said that all beginnings are hard as he addressed our class of bright eyed, freshly matriculated grad students. I don't think I quite understood the significance of what he said in the moment, but it's  surprising how often I refer to it every time I start something new. I'm in the middle of something new at work. And while I've had many  beginnings since grad school, the vulnerability of not knowing what I'm doing always unsettles me. Understanding that all beginnings are hard allows me to see that what I'm experiencing is normal.  It's normal not to know what you're doing. It's normal for this to cause stress. It's normal that it's going to take time for things to get settled.

The crazy thing is that while I know that all of this is normal I still think it's not normal when it happens to me. And were it not for grace, I'd be working to have you believe this too.