“White rabbits”

“Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit”

“Pinch punch first day of the month”

Whatever you may say when you wake up to a new page on the calendar, let me ask why we may say these things? (Let’s leave aside their sometimes very strange origins: https://metro.co.uk/2018/10/01/why-do-we-say-white-rabbits-and-pinch-punch-on-the-first-day-of-the-month-7993616/)

I can put my hands up to admit that I am one of those people who like to say these ‘good luck’ mantras to just be on the ‘safe side’. But this left me to ponder why should we depend on these few words to help determine how these next 31, 30, 28 (or 29 in a leap year) days will go?

My own personal ethos (and that of Barr Beacon) fully agrees that hard work will always pay off no matter how long it takes. Success is not determined by luck. Only we can decide how we want to mould our futures, whether it is a long-term goal like wanting to pursue a certain vocation or a short-term goal like simply getting through a whole month and keeping yourself organised.  

A new month can commemorate a sense of change in ourselves like setting new goals to achieve. Perhaps we could take up a new skill, talk to a new face in one of our classes or even try something that we had always wanted to do but never had the chance to, such as staring a blog? (N.B. I’m talking autobiographically here!)

It is also a great time to look back on the last month and not forget what we have learned and how the world is changing. Both the Black Lives Matter movement (see the previous blog) and Pride Month has shown us that our world is striving closer towards equality that the people of these communities have always deserved. Starting a new month isn’t about moving on to the next ‘trending’ discourse but a chance to tackle these problems further until there is nothing to tackle. Remember to educate, sign petitions and donate to both communities as we need change.  

Now, a new month doesn’t always mean a new you and new goals. You shouldn’t ever feel limited to a date beginning the 1st to push you into a state of fresh starts. It could be in the middle of the month, in the middle of the week, in the middle of the day and you may feel in a little bit of a slump, but this doesn’t mean you have to wait another 15 days to start all over again. You can hit the refresh button whenever you like and the sooner you do, the closer you can get to reach this month’s goals you may have abandoned on the second square of the calendar.

But a new month is always a great place to reset and go. And go with passion, determination and never giving up.

For this new month of July which we’re all about to embark on, I hope we can all embody all of these qualities and when we hit the 31st I cannot wait to see all the amazing things we have achieved and that we can carry on with in the future.

Although we may not need it, as hard work will be the backbone of our successes, for this month and many more months to come… good luck!

For more information on the Black Lives Matter movement please read our previous blog post.

Here’s a page to petitions for LGBTQ+ rights: https://www.change.org/t/lgbt-rights-3

Here are some links to LGBTQ+ charities and communities which you can use to educate and donate if you can:

All Out: https://allout.org/en/what-all-out

London Gaymers: https://www.londongaymers.co.uk/

Switchboard: https://switchboard.lgbt/

Stonewall: https://www.stonewall.org.uk/

Pictured below are my rabbits Pippin and Luna wishing us all ‘good luck’ for this July!