Life is always full of challenges, but those challenges are also what drives personal development. I am constantly reminded about that when I see this picture, which was made by my mother Grete Refsum when I started in school.

Gutt med ball (Grete Refsum, 1985)

I think the symbolism in the image is great. The eager child is waiting with open arms for an enormous ball. Even though I am much older now, I think the feeling of starting on something new is always the same. Starting school, starting university, starting a new job, starting a new project. It is always a feeling of something large and unknown that is approaching.

I am currently starting a new book project, which at the moment feels like an enormous ball that I don’t really know how to handle. The nice thing about a ball, however, is that you don’t necessarily need to lift it. You can come a long way by pushing it in the right direction.