Featured article by A.J. Renatus
Three years ago, I stood at the edge of my past, peering into the abyss of the unknown with nothing but a resolve to redefine my very existence. My past, a jumble of unmet expectations and worn-out narratives, clung to me like a withered second skin. I made a choice to rise from the ashes of my former self. This is the chronicle of my metamorphosis and the liberation found in self-invention.
My journey began with a decision that seemed as reckless as it was liberating: relocating to a new country where my name held no weight, my history was uncharted, and my failures were unknown. I adopted a new name, A.J. Renatus (Renatus meaning reborn), as a testament to the new life I wanted to establish. This act of self-reinvention was not merely about changing locales or aliases; it was an existential leap into creating a new self unburdened by the past.
The most challenging aspect of this transformation was not the logistical upheaval but the internal unmooring from my past identity. Cutting off ties was not an act of cruelty but necessity; it was about giving myself permission to evolve without the anchor of others’ perceptions. In the silence that followed, I discovered the raw materials of my new self: resilience, ambition, and a creativity untainted by the fear of judgment. It was very difficult to dislodge my past identities, how I saw myself was embedded deeply in my psyche and it was months before I could look in the mirror and imagine someone else.
I believed that freed from the threads of my former life, I was poised to redefine what achievement meant on my own terms. That I could either find my original essence, the one untouched by social and cultural values, boundaries and judgements, or I could invent a new self entirely. Excellence was actively mapped with every single one of my decisions. I dove into realms I had previously deemed beyond my reach, from starting a business to exploring creative pursuits that I had never thought to consider before. The absence of a predefined narrative allowed me to experiment, fail, and ultimately, excel in ways I had never imagined.
To me, the power of self-invention lies not in erasing the past but in transcending it. The difference was in the vantage point; I was no longer looking back in regret but looking past it, over it, as if it never happened. Each step taken was a conscious act of creation, crafting a life that resonated with my new aspirations, pulled from the air or simply imagined.
Today, I stand as a testament to the transformative power of self-reinvention. Not because of my achievements as perceived by the standards of others, but because I am happy. I am content with exploring what could be, what might be and relishing the opportunity to fail and fail again and learn more about what I never considered possible. The journey of self-invention is filled with uncertainty, yet it is within this crucible of change that I have discovered peace above and beyond an excellence in any particular field or fields.
To those standing on the precipice of change, uncertain and afraid, I say this: embrace self-invention however you choose to define it, for it is in shedding our old selves that we uncover the boundless possibilities of who we can become.
A.J. Renatus
King Advisory 