How to start over from zero?

Starting over from zero is frightening because zero looks empty. But no one really starts over from nothing: you bring along what you've learned, the people who stayed and the courage of having decided to try again. That's what you start with.

What to do now

1. Accept your starting point. Spending energy on "how did I let it come to this" delays the new start. Look at where you are, without makeup, and write down: what I have, what I owe, who is with me.
2. Secure the ground before building the house. Housing, food, documents, a minimum income, even a temporary one. With the basics protected, your head starts thinking again.
3. Start with what you already know how to do. A new start is not the time to learn everything from scratch at once. Use a skill you already have to generate transition income: a trade, a service, a sale.
4. Start close to home. The first opportunities usually come from people who already know you: neighbors, former colleagues, old customers, your community. Let them know you're starting over and what you can do.
5. Set up a simple routine. A time to wake up, a time to work, a time to look for opportunities, a time to rest. Routine protects against the discouragement of days without results.
6. Measure progress on the right timescale. In one day, almost nothing changes. In three months, a lot changes. Write down the week's wins so you can see how far you've come.
7. Accept help without shame. CRAS, Sebrae, the Public Defender's Office, free courses, friends. Whoever starts over alone takes longer.
8. Take care of your emotional health. If the weight gets too heavy, CVV answers at 188, free and 24 hours a day.

When it happened to Bairo

Bairo Leandro Gonzalez Martinez started over from zero more than once. He says the first time was in his first years in Brazil. He had arrived in 2002, with an education company, in a management position. When he decided to leave, he found himself without documents in hand, far from home, afraid and with no road ahead.

The boy who had been announcing Brazil since childhood was in Brazil, with no footing and no one to ask. It would have been the natural place to give up. He didn't give up. He started again from the only place left, zero, and he started close to home: with the partner who was by his side. When their daughter was born, the two of them opened a neighborhood salon.

It didn't work out as well as they wanted. But it worked out very well in another way: from it came a hair-treatment course, in a field that years later got a name of its own.

The path

Zero is not the bottom; it is the ground. And from the ground you can get up. Bairo says there are no coincidences and no accidents, only purpose, dreams and execution. Starting over is exactly that: remembering the purpose, keeping the dream and executing the next small step, every day, until the new start becomes a road.

Forgive the time it took to get here. People who start over tend to blame themselves for not noticing sooner, not acting sooner, not avoiding the fall. That blame doesn't change the past and gets in the way of the future. Keep the lesson, let go of the guilt and put whatever energy you have left into what is in front of you. The new start needs all of you.

Read also

• Capoeira was the bridge
• The sun is for everyone
• How to start over after losing everything?