Learn How to Be a Beginner Again, Without Apologizing for It

If you want to make a change for this next chapter of your life, you may need to practice being a beginner again. Here's how to do it without shrinking, apologizing, or explaining.

Becoming a beginner again can feel almost physically uncomfortable, especially if you’ve spent years becoming the go-to person, the one others rely on, the steady hand in the room.

But if you’re craving change, you’re going to have to get okay with not having all the answers.

Many of us reach midlife with a strange mix of competence and hesitation: we’re skilled, capable, proven… but we’re also terrified of looking foolish again.

And yet, the next chapter usually demands exactly that.

This week, we’re talking about letting yourself learn something new — badly, briefly, with curiosity — without explaining or apologizing for it.

One Step Closer is our no-fluff series on taking small, intentional steps toward a freer, location-independent life — without burning out or starting over.