The first day can be meaningful without revealing what the whole change will become.

First days carry more feeling than information. Whether a job, a treatment, a move or a relationship turns out well is decided over months, and almost none of that is visible in the opening hours, which are mostly nerves and unfamiliar corridors. It is worth letting a day be significant without asking it to predict. Beginnings are events rather than forecasts.

If you are at the start of something, write down what today was actually like rather than what you think it means. Read it again in six months. Let the verdict wait until there is enough to judge.