The Magic of a Fresh Start

The Magic of a Fresh Start

By Leo Babauta

One of the biggest obstacles(ˈäbstək(ə)l) to sticking(stik) with a habit change, a new system, a goal or long-term project … is that we get disrupted.

Something interrupts our progress — we skip a workout day or two — and then some programming in our brains turns that into a message of how we’re not good enough, we can’t do it, we should just give up.

This stops so many people from making long-term progress.

It stops us from simply starting again.

This is because most of us don’t realize the power and magic of a Fresh Start.

A Fresh Start is when we get to start anew, with a blank slate(slāt). It’s waking up to a brand new morning, with a day we get to use however we want.

When we miss a few days of meditation, or eat junk(jəNGk) for a week because of various celebrations, or fall off from writing our book … instead of making that to mean that this whole thing is a waste(wāst) of time or that we somehow suck … we can look at it as a Fresh Start.

I’m not simply reframing(rēˈfrām) things to “be positive.” There’s a lot of power available to us in a Fresh Start that we miss out on.

A Fresh Start is magical:

We can see the habit or project with fresh eyes, as if we’d never seen it before, and bring a sense of wonder and curiosity to what we’re doing
There’s a sacredness(ˈsākrədnəs) to letting everything go from the past and just showing up in a new moment
We can learn something from the past failure or disruption, and use this new start as a way to get better at that difficulty(ˈdifəkəltē), armed with this new information, so that every Fresh Start becomes a new opportunity to learn, grow, get better at something
We get to reinvent(ˌrēinˈvent) ourselves, reinvent what we’re taking on, reinvent what we want to make our lives to be
We can recommit(ˌrēkəˈmit), and remind ourselves of why we’re committed to this

This is all missed when we ignore the magic and power of a Fresh Start!

The beautiful thing is that a Fresh Start is available to us not only when we get disrupted or stumble(ˈstəmbəl) … but in every moment. Every day. Every new meditation or workout or work session. Every new meeting with someone, every new conversation.

Every new breath(breTH).

https://zenhabits.net/anew/