Starting Fresh

Starting fresh is one of the best feelings I know.

The possibilities are endless. There is limitless potential. I like to start fresh as often as I can.

Beginning again is writing the first letter on the first page of a new notebook. There is nothing to hold us back, no past to regret. Everything is new.

There have been times when I thought that starting fresh gave me an opportunity to avoid making any mistakes. If I were very skillful and paid serious attention, I could be perfect. I would work very hard and put off starting over as long as I could. Deciding to start fresh seemed like admitting that I was stuck.

Now I see starting fresh differently.

I try to start fresh often. Starting fresh means we can recognize what we have learned by trying things and try a new approach. Starting fresh is not the same as starting over.

There were times when I was confident that I could work my way through any obstacle. I could accomplish goals, work with people who were difficult, overcome challenging obstacles, solve problems. I trusted my own persistence to find a way.

I was much more likely to keep going than to start fresh.

We can accomplish amazing things by persevering. We can also become trapped in our own narrow perspective. I believed that I could see the way forward, and would meet my goal if only I continued working.

Sometimes our persistence becomes stubbornness.

New Year’s is an excellent time to start fresh, but we do not need to limit ourselves. We can begin again every month, every week, every day, even several times a day.

When are you going to start fresh today?

How often are you willing to start fresh this year?

[Image by Eric Chan]