I think the whole new year thing is such a big deal to people because it offers us what we all dream of: a new beginning. How many times in your life have you promised yourself you'd make a new start? How many times have you said or thought the words, "This is the new me!"? How many times have you tried to change yourself?
I do believe that we can change ourselves over time, but as humans, we're vulnerable to making mistakes. Which is why, to make our guilt disappear, we start the whole "turning over a new page" thing! It's kind of a vicious circle: Decide to turn over a new leaf, make a mistake, re-decide to turn over a new leaf, make a mistake, etc.
I don't think I'd be able to count all the times in my life I (tearfully) thought I would start over. That's why we get so upset when we make a mistake; it's because we know we've made many before it and we'll continue to make many after it. Which is why we need to keep reminding ourselves: WE ARE HUMANS. Granted, that's no excuse for half the things we do, but what can we say? We're just people. We make mistakes. We should learn our lesson (even if it takes us quite a few mistakes to do so) and move on. Dwelling on the mistake and staying rooted to the spot won't help (do you hear that, Brain? Yeah, I'm talking to you!).
"You will turn over many a futile new leaf till you learn we must all write on scratched-out pages." -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960.
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