That’s how it always begins.

There’s something both exciting and intimidating about opening up a notebook or computer file and facing that empty space. Anything could be written on it. There’s incredible potential and possibility there.

There’s a chance that whatever fills that page will be important. It could be what the world, or at least someone in it, needs to hear. However, it might also feel like there’s an obligation to make it so somehow—to find a way to put something together that will be impactful.

It’s not all that different from everything else we do.

Each day, we interact with the world. The story of our day is written as we live out the minutes and hours in front of us. There is amazing potential in that, but there can be a sense of pressure to make something significant out of it, too.

We are just beginning the new year. Millions of people around the world will be celebrating this turning of the calendar with resolutions and commitments to do something different with the days ahead. It’s a time when are encouraged to be intentional about what we want this next year to look like. At the very least, it’s a fresh chapter in our ongoing story.

There is something special about starting a new year. The days on the calendar aren’t filled yet—there are blank pages waiting to be lived. Anything and everything feels possible. We could start the adventure of a lifetime. We could build upon and expand the story. We could try something new or remember an old tradition.

It’s a time when we get to be intentional. We get to decide where we want to see this next chapter go, and then we get to live it out. There could be unexpected plot twists. There could be characters and events we didn’t anticipate. We might not do everything we set out to do.

Then again, we might. We might find the exact story we’d hoped for filling the pages of our days ahead. We might find one that’s even better, where we discover that the story we wanted was actually less than the one we ended up living.

No matter what tale you end up spinning, one thing is certain: it can’t be done without you. You are the one living it, after all. You get to deliberate and decide what to do. You get to write the next sentence, and then the next. You get to see where your story takes you.

Start with a blank page—that’s how it always begins.