Lately, I’ve found myself narrating the world to my five-year old grandson.
“Look,” I say, “it’s the first time your baby sister is tasting cucumber.” Or, “This is her very first time seeing snow.”
Every day, something is new for her. Every day, she is meeting the world piece by piece, sensation by sensation.
I love watching his face as he takes this in — it is pure magic, because for him, the idea that he once knew nothing of what he now knows— that he once had to learn how to chew, how to stand, how to walk, how to speak—is absolutely mind-blowing.
Children don’t often remember their “firsts,” so seeing them unfold in someone smaller than them is like watching their own history come to life.
Everything We Know, We Learned from Someone
This is the part that lands deepest for both of us:
Everything a child learns is taught by someone older or simply absorbed through watching.
Babies learn through:
- modeling
- mirroring
- demonstration
- gentle teaching
- instinct
- and the quiet repetition of everyday life
We like to believe we grow on our own, but the truth is, none of us begin alone. We begin because someone lights the way.
Someone shows us how to hold a spoon, how to zip a coat, how to stack a block, how to speak a word.
And later, how to love, how to trust, how to be kind, how to be brave.
It happens slowly, quietly, invisibly. But it shapes everything.
The Mind-Blowing Truth: We All Started at Zero
When I remind my grandson,
“You once didn’t know how to do any of this either,” he pauses. You can almost see the gears turning. It’s humbling and awe-inspiring at the same time.
It’s grounding.
Because we forget we all began knowing absolutely nothing.
- Not how to hold our heads up.
- Not how to walk or talk.
- Not how to handle disappointment, make a friend, tie a shoe, ride a bike, or calm ourselves.
We learned, little by little, guided by hands bigger than our own.
Fresh Beginnings Are Just Adult First Times
As grown-ups, we talk a lot about starting over. We call them fresh beginnings, transformations, reinventions of ourselves, … new chapters.
But if we strip it down to the essence, a fresh beginning is simply this:
- another “first time”—
- the grown-up version of tasting cucumber or seeing snow.
And just like babies, we don’t go into new beginnings knowing what to do. We learn by watching, experimenting, wobbling, and practicing.
We learn through instinct and guidance.
Through mentors, friends, family, strangers, books, examples.
Through courage and curiosity.
We are not expected to know everything on day one. We didn’t the first time we were new, and we don’t now.
The Beauty of Teaching and Being Taught
There’s something beautifully circular about it. My grandson learns from me, and then he becomes the one explaining the world to his baby sister, and showing her
- how to touch snow…
- how to taste new foods…
- how to steady herself when she stands.
And one day, she’ll teach someone else. That’s how we keep passing the light forward.
First Times Will Always Be Part of Us
Life doesn’t stop giving us “firsts” just because we’re older. It simply offers them in different ways:
- the first time we forgive ourselves,
- the first time we say no confidently,
- the first time we try something that scares us,
- the first time we let go of something we’ve outgrown,
- the first time we trust that we’re capable of more.
Watching my grandchildren reminds me that we are always capable of beginning again, always capable of learning something new, always capable of being shaped and reshaped by the world around us.
Maybe This Is the Real Lesson
We were never meant to know everything from the start.
We were meant to learn.
- To practice.
- To be shown.
- To try.
- To fall.
- To get back up.
- To wobble toward something new.
And to have someone near us whisper, “It’s okay. You’ve got this. Try again.”
So maybe the next time we’re standing in front of a new beginning, unsure or afraid, we can remember this:
There was once a time when even snow was new to us. And we figured it out.
There truly is a first time for everything—
and thank goodness for that,
because it means there are still so many beautiful beginnings ahead.
As an adult i can go back and remember how I learned to drive a truck, how to play different sports, what I learned when we spent one month visiting msny different republics of the Soviet Union, etc
The older you are of course you can have many memories,. But you can also think about the experiences that you did not have. Such as in my case, learning to play an instrument.
Reading these simple examples , helps me to slow down and realize how simple life’s lessons are.
I’m grateful today for everyone who helped me, by passing the light foreword and I am confident in doing the same, with all my love
My learnings are respected and appreciated
🙏