Do You Believe in Fresh Starts?
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Do you believe in fresh starts? Because I do. I really do.
Before I get all swirled in semantics, I would like to pause and wish you a very Happy New Year! 2011. The number scares me a tad. To someone who was born in 1978, the number 2011 just seems so futuristic. But no. We’re here. In 2011. And it’s a bit uncharacteristic of this oft-gloomy-doomy-overthinky realist, but I’m feeling quite optimistic about the year to come. (Hey, everything in moderation, huh?)
I have much to fill you in on. Things magical and mundane that happened during my priceless pause. The biggest highlight (other than the maddening two feet of snow that paralyzed us)? My big girl turned four. On New Year’s Day. And I have a letter for her. So stay tuned.
But today. I am pondering freshness and starts. Fresh starts. What does it mean to have a fresh start? Does it mean starting over, from scratch? Or does it mean something perhaps a bit more subtle and stunning – standing in front of that jammed existential fridge, taking stock of its contents, its artful clutter, and chucking the things that have spoiled a bit? The goals that have lost their greenness? The condiments of hope and fear and regret that have expired? The personal produce that has grown wrinkled and bruised?
I don’t pretend to know.
But I do know something. That I am sitting here on this good Monday morning in January in this wild and crazy and utterly real year of 2011 and I am smiling. Because I am back here. In this place I love. Because I smell the sweetness of change. Because I feel a bit newer. A bit fresher.
And ready to go. Ready for another good year.
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Did you miss me? (Because I missed you!) Does it amaze you that it is already 2011? Do you believe in fresh starts? Are you optimistic about the year to come? Why or why not?
Everyone struggles and...
Happy New Year! Happy Birthday to Toddler as well.
I definitely believe in the psychological benefits of a fresh start and am enjoying a few more days off at the start of the year before I get back into things.
Hope you had a great Christmas/New Year!
Thanks, Yvann! Happy 2011 to you and yours! I do think there is something so important and rejuvenating about allowing ourselves to “begin again” and fashion fresh dreams… Enjoy the dregs of your break!
I love the fridge analogy (you can tell a lot about a person from their refrigerator contents) and the idea of a fresh start. Instead of resolutions being a way to right our wrong, I think they come with that burst of motivation you described. If your freshness includes goals or focus, leave them on my blog and I’ll help keep you honest. Happy Birthday big girl, 4 is fun.
I love the fridge analogy too… for so many reasons – because we are control of what we put in our fridges, because they contain physical and psychological nutrition, because we can change how we stock things… Yes, indeed this time (for me at least) is more about the bursts and breezes of motivation than it is about discrete resolutions enumerated on a list… Look forward to checking out Foodtrainers! I imagine this is a busy time of year for you… As for nutritionally fresh starts, mine will come sometime in March (so so soon!)
Love the fridge analogy and a fresh start. I think you can tell a lot about a person by the contents of their refrigerator. Any goals/resolutions you have with your increased motivation and “freshness”? Leave them on Foodtrainers and I’ll check back on you. Happy Birthday big girl! Four is fantastic.
I absolutely believe in fresh starts… I don’t like resolutions or anything like that, but I do like starting a new year with a vague but tangible feeling of change, being whoever you want to be, forgetting who you’re “supposed to” be…
Happy new year and welcome back!
You capture this so well… For me too it is about a sense of change, of subtle and exciting improvements, of reinvention. I have never been big on resolutions (witness my New Years post last year – http://www.ivyleagueinsecurities.com/2010/01/whatever-happens-rocks/) but I do believe in change and beginning again. What better time of year to stop and contemplate evolution and selfhood? And let’s all forget all those “supposed to”s and “shoulds”. I know…. Much easier said than done… HAppy 2011!
Happy New Year Aidan
And happy 4th to your girl!
Thank you, Corrine! Happy 2011 to you and yours! I have a feeling it’s going to be a good one
Happy New Year!!! Happy Birthday to your little girl as well! 2010 was not the best year for me. So I am ready to start fresh with a new year and a new outlook on life! This is going to be a great year! I can feel it!!
Thanks, Alicia! I hope 2011 is not only an improvement on its predecessor, but all that you hope for
Happy New Year!! Your enthusiasm is infectious. Wishing you much happiness!
Infectious enthusiasm: I like that! Hope your year ahead is bright and good. Look forward to continuing to blog alongside you in 2011. I have a hunch it is going to be a good one.
Of course 2011 will be a great year- you will be welcoming a new baby! And not only that, but living another wonderful year with the ones you love. Embedded in starting a new year is the concept of a fresh start. And it instills in me a heightened awareness of how lucky I am for all that I have.
Happy birthday, Toddler. I agree 4 is a great age and it feels so far from my almost 9-year-old and not quite two-year-old.
Yes, a new baby! This is just becoming very real to me as I near the 30 week mark. I am getting so excited – for the freshness of life that will abound here come spring. Your perspective is admirable and enviable – isn’t so much of this about awareness – of where we have been and where we have to go? Happy New Year, Celeste!
Welcome back, and Happy 2011!
I have mixed feelings about this new year; happy because it’s filled with possibility, and a little sad because my “baby” will be turning 7…time moves so fast. I often quote from my favorite Little House on the Prairie, “Golden years are passing by, these happy golden years,” to which my oldest says, “The best years are still ahead!” That’s the feeling I hope to hold onto to this year, and in those to come.
I am with you. Time moves so fast, too fast. It scares me (and I have a post brewing to this effect) that time passes even more quickly once we are older. This past year? It flew – and in many ways, in a frightening way. But I agree with your sage little one in that the best years could very well still lie ahead. A good attitude to have about life, no?
Happy New Year to you and yours!
Happy Birthday to your big girl! My son (my baby) turned 4 on January 2, so our kids are only one day apart in age. His birthday was a little bittersweet this year. In September he goes to school for the first time, and gains a little independance from his mom. He’s always been my special little guy, my youngest boy. It’s sad, but happy too. He can’t wait.
Happy New Year to you! I believe in fresh starts, do-overs, “mulligans”…
Love that our kiddos are so so close in age! Isn’t it truly amazing how deeply sadness and joy can commingle? Birthdays seem to have this affect for me. I love the word “mulligan.” How can you not?
Happy New Year, Jonita!
I love your analogy…very unique and appropriate!
I do believe in fresh starts I just don’t believe they can only happen in a new year. I start over on far too many ocassions throughout the year, as I’m sure I’ll be doing in 2011!
Happy New Year Aidan. Glad you are back!
I couldn’t agree more that this is not the one time of year for fresh starts… We can always begin again and this is what makes life so malleable and magical. We can always try something new and reinvent (to some degree) who it is we are.
Happy New Year, Ameena!
I love your analogy, Aidan. I am glad you are back- happy birthday to your big girl . Happy New Year to all of you !
Thanks, Ayala! Happy New Year
You mention 1978 and I remember exactly what I was doing. I was convinced that I was going to grow up to play for the Dodgers. It didn’t happen. A lot of things didn’t happen, but that was ok because I was in my routine.
New beginnings were tough for me, but some of that was changed by necessity. In part it came from being a parent.
Now I welcome changes and am optimistic that new beginnings will lead to some amazing opportunities. This year I moved my blog over to WordPress. Am very curious to see what happens.
Hope you had a great New Year, watch out 2011 here we come.
Aren’t the dreams of youth the absolute best? I think so… New beginnings can be tricky, but they can also usher in wonderful things. I have a feeling that this will be a good year for many of us. Love your enthusiasm!
I definitely believe in fresh starts. Not that you have to “start over,” but perhaps remember all the things you meant to accomplish or work on during the previous year that you never quite got around to…and make a point of working on them. Hm, that sounds exactly like a new year’s resolution, doesn’t it. Well… I guess that tradition caught on for a reason. Happy new year!
I think there is an important, if subtle, difference between starting fresh (purposely more vague and existential) and making resolutions (more specific, more empirical)… Happy New Year, Rebecca!
Happy New Year and Welcome Back!
Thanks, Jocelyn!
Happy 2011! This is a year that’s been hovering around the fringes of my mind for a few years. This is the year that my first-born graduates high school and leaves for college. Many fresh starts in our family. And yes, I believe in fresh starts too. I started cleaning drawers and cabinets (I think rather subconsciously) this past weekend.
Happy birthday to your big girl and congrats on being a mom! Glad you’re back after your pause.
Wow. A big year for you indeed. You have much to be proud of. (Oh, and I cleaned out our family room toy cabinet two days after Christmas. A six hour project!) Cheers to an uncluttered and lovely start to a good year
Glad you are back! I believe in fresh starts, too. But I think that they sometimes come at unexpected and unplanned times, not just in early January as we’ve all been trained to believe. It’s so exciting that baby #3 will soon arrive for you, which is perhaps the most obvious fresh start of all.
I completely agree that fresh starts come (often when we are not looking) at less predictable times. We are getting very excited about #3 and, yes, a wee bit anxious about the added chaos quotient in our new home. Only the good kind of chaos though
Happy New Year!
I definitely believe in fresh starts and although I’m not big on resolutions, I do honor the idea behind a new year (in fact, I wrote about it the other day!). While I believe you can start fresh any time, there’s something about flipping that page in the calendar and feeling the old wash away.
I’m not big on resolutions either. There is something too formulaic and rigid for me about them… But I love the image and idea of flipping the calendar and seeing all that lovely white. Happy New Year, Missy!
Happy New Year Aidan! Glad you are back. I missed your words. I love fresh starts as long they are with a new awareness of things.
Yes, a good point. Starting fresh without that concomitant awareness does not mean much, does it? Happy New Year to you and yours, Rudri!
Of course I missed you! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s. And happy belated 4th b-day to Toddler.
I’m relishing in my own fresh start. Like you, I believe that the best fresh starts don’t throw everything out, but rather take a thoughtful inventory and make changes as needed. The start of a new year is the perfect time for such inventories and I love doing it.
Here’s to a happy and productive 2011. XOXO.
Thanks, Gale. And exactly. It’s not about a complete overhaul, but a thoughtful tweaking, a subtle or even profound re-imagining, a shifting of self and soul. Cheers to a great new year of blogging and much else. Happy New Year!
I missed you but am so glad you were able to relax.
I do believe in fresh starts. Like you, I am excited about this year to come. Since I had the year from H*** there is no where to go but up! Well…at least in my attitude.
You, my friend, are due to have an exquisite new year. I have said it before but I am inspired by your strength and honesty and have a good feeling about 2011 in your household and beyond. Happy New Year!
A new year is like a clean fridge…thoughts like these are why I love checking out what you have to say! Welcome back and happy 2011! I’m not a huge resolution person either, but New Year’s is (for me) a time when I like to take stock in what is good and what could be improved upon in my life. A time to be thankful for what I have, and to remind myself what I need to do in order to become closer to the person I’d like to be. And it does feel like a blank slate, full of promise. Although it’s only the 3rd and my slate is rapidly filling already…but with new opportunities that leave me full of hope and excitement. Wishes for a terrific year to all!
I love my wacky metaphors
So great to hear that this early in the year, your slate is filling with good and promising things. Sounds like you have a well-stocked fridge in your 2011 kitchen!
Happy New Year!
I gave up soda for January … Is January over yet?? If I can make it through that, I feel like I can tackle anything. And we’ve got big plans this year. Big, big, scary big. I can do it! Right?
Big and scary plans are often the very best kind. You can absolutely do it
Happy New Year, Stacia!
I’m with you – I believe in a fresh start. I’m re-evaluating some things in my life and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to do it. Best wishes to you for 2011
-R.
The opportunity to reevaluate is indeed a glorious thing, isn’t it? And we should do it far more than once a year. What is life but a constant shifting, a continued reinvention? Happy New Year, R.!
I certainly did miss reading your posts. But it wasn’t just your absence – I was absent for a while too. The end of last year passed like a blur because so much was going on. I’m excited and optimistic about 2011. I love your metaphor about the refrigerator – the beginning of a new year is a wonderful time to take stock of what you have – to throw out some of the old to make room for the new. Best wishes to you and your family in the new year!