"New" you

Today was the first day of class.
First day of college for all of my students
we talked about the paradigm shift
High school life vs college, checkers vs chess.
We listed it all....tons of analogies...
"yes. yes. easy topic"...they said

They said they knew it...they knew what was going to be different
and I believed them...so I switched gears.

Ok...so you know what's different between HS and College
But what is different about this? " HS you" and "College you"

It's a clean slate...you've got the same heart
but you have a brand new opportunity to let everyone see that heart
to change the things that didn't work but everyone expected.
to decide what is important to you and what you want
not just what you want to be...but WHO you want to be and HOW you want to be it

I gave them each a piece of paper.
"This here is the new you...
Name one thing you love so much about yourself and never want to change
Name two things you want to start fresh on...so that you can be a better you"
They didn't show me...they wrote...sealed it in an envelope...
and won't look at them until Christmas

Gosh, I remember starting out college...
I went 1000 miles away from home.
and yet had no idea that I COULD be something different
I didn't even think of what I wanted to leave behind

Later in the day I led a Q & A for the fresh new faces in our Graduate Program
very first day for them...that was me...a year ago...
what did I change? what had I kept? had I shown my heart?

I've moved so many times...each one a clean slate
so many chances to try something new...
to be a better me without carrying over the heavy stuff
I thought about how no matter where you go, it's still you...
it's just the same me inside

There's more of me that I want to keep
and less of me that I want to change.