I wake up every morning new, free as a bird.

Hear, O children of dawn, the words of Ashley Cole, who declared: “I wake up every morning new, free as a bird.” Though simple in sound, these words carry a weight that belongs to the wisdom of ages. For in them lies the eternal truth that each day is a rebirth, a chance to cast off the burdens of yesterday and to rise in spirit as the lark rises to the heavens. To be new each morning is not merely to breathe again, but to live again, unchained from regret and open to the boundless promise of the present hour.

This proclamation speaks of freedom, the most precious of treasures. To be “free as a bird” is to live without the chains of yesterday’s sorrows, without the shackles of tomorrow’s fears. Consider the sparrow or the eagle: they do not labor under the weight of past mistakes, nor do they tremble at what is to come. They fly because it is in their nature, unburdened, trusting the sky. Cole’s words are thus a reminder that man too, though beset with memory and care, may choose to cast off his chains at dawn and step forward as though born anew.

Think upon the tale of Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-king of Rome, who in his Meditations wrote that each morning a man must rise prepared to meet hardship, yet without bitterness, for life itself is gift enough. Surrounded by war and betrayal, he found strength in the practice of renewal—each day, a new chance to live according to virtue. Even as emperor, weighted with the cares of empire, he sought the freedom of the mind, that same freedom Cole likens to the bird’s flight. The lesson echoes across centuries: each sunrise offers us the chance to begin again.

Yet this freedom does not come without choice. Many wake each day already bound—bound by resentment, regret, or fear. They rise with yesterday’s sorrows still heavy upon their shoulders, and so their wings cannot spread. Cole’s wisdom lies in the decision to awaken anew—to let go, to forgive, to release the chains before taking the first step into the day. In this lies the discipline of renewal: to practice freedom daily, until it becomes the natural state of the soul.

But O listeners, do not mistake this for idleness or escape. To be new is not to forget one’s duties, but to approach them with a fresh heart. The soldier still must march, the farmer still must sow, the thinker still must ponder—but each may choose whether to carry their burden with bitterness or to bear it with wings of hope. Renewal does not erase responsibility; it transforms it into a noble offering, carried lightly by a free spirit.

Consider too the heroic resilience of Nelson Mandela, who, after twenty-seven years in prison, emerged not with chains of bitterness but with wings of forgiveness. Each morning in his captivity, he had the choice to wake as a prisoner of rage or as a man inwardly free. He chose the latter, and by that daily renewal, he emerged into history as one of the greatest examples of human freedom. His life proves that one’s body may be confined, yet one’s spirit may rise free as a bird.

So let the lesson be carved into your hearts: each morning is a gift, a chance to awaken new, to shed the husks of yesterday and to lift yourself toward the sky. Do not wake already burdened; instead, choose to rise in gratitude, in hope, in the spirit of freedom. Begin again each day, even if you failed the day before. Practice this renewal until your life becomes a flight, light and unbound, carried by the winds of resilience.

Therefore, O travelers of life, when the dawn calls, answer it as Cole did—with joy, with freedom, with the courage to be reborn each morning. In this way, you will find not only strength for the day but wings for the soul, and your life shall be a song of freedom echoing through the generations.